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I'd like to take a moment to point your attention to one of the cooler widgets that NewsGator powers. We provide content aggregation and syndication -- in the form of widgets -- for Earth Knowledge, a rich resource that disseminates environmental and scientific information about the earth. The large viral widget in the center of Earth Knowledge's site (a smaller version of which is seen at right) is notable because it is highly dynamic, interacts with Google Maps, and has multiple tabs. For instance, users can chose one or more of over 60 different map layers, instantly overlaying geographic data like rivers and ecosystems. Depending on the content you choose -- biological diversity, water, climate, land -- links to different stories will be displayed. Even cooler, the widget links these categories, as well as individual stories, with geographic indicators on a map. The website, whose content NewsGator powers, even earned Earth Knowledge a news segment on "Our Planet" which will air on CNN Headline News and Fox Business News and also just recently debuted an internet-browser-based Map Tool as well.
This widget is an example of the very interactive and complex nature of some of the widgets we've created for our clients. Check it out here! Enjoy.
If you swing on over to our NewsGator Technical Blog, you'll find a truly elucidating post about our related content widgets from our technical support engineers.
You'll learn, among other things, how the widget actually finds related content -- with crucial help from our friends over at mSpoke, the best locations to place these widgets, and ensuring that your widget gets the highest quality related content. They also, quite helpfully, troubleshoot a few potential stumbling blocks you might encounter along the way.
It's definitely a must read if you're interested in our related content offerings. Read the whole post here.
In order to spread the word about the two awesome widgets Democratic National Convention -- on a Big Tent blog widget, the other a Qik video widget -- I'll be on hand, in person, today showing people the widgets and getting folks excited about them.
As a reminder, the first widget, which I think is ground-breaking, is called the "Qik Convention Widget."
This widget consolidates and streams live video from the DNC as mobile
phone users capture it using Qik's phone to web service.
The second, Big Tent Widget, consolidates
feeds from nearly 200 bloggers, new media journalists and nonprofit
leaders credentialed for the Big Tent, the 9,000 square-foot new media center hosted by Progress Now, Daily Kos, the Alliance for Sustainable Colorado, and sponsored by Digg, Google, NewsGator, and others. Also, it shows the latest content first, with priority on hot topics and popular blogs, through smart filtering technology.
Reminder: you can place the Big Tent widget on your blog or start page
by clicking the "get" this button on the widget above; you can place
the Qik Convention Widget on your blog/start page by clicking here.
Also, to follow NewsGator's presence at the DNC today, follow us on Twitter -- "newsgatorwidget."
Earlier in the month we announced that we were partnering with AFP to provide free, co-branded Olympics widgets to media clients with a guaranteed CPM of $0.20.
Well, the first fruits of this partnership are visible on The Denver Post's online site. (The widget is yellow and is located on the right sidebar of the page.)
A couple neat things to point out: first, this widget is monetized on presentation; the ad just below goes wherever the widget goes. Also, because this is a co-branded widget, the links within it drive traffic back to The Denver Post's online site, where users can get the full text of the article. This is great for DenverPost.com, as they get to sell ads around the content.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, the widget is viral. Since the widget always links content back to The Denver Post, they are happy that their audience can take the widget with them (to place wherever they like on the start pages, blogs, etc.)
The beauty of this setup is that DenverPost.com, AFP, and NewsGator all benefit from this arrangement: ad revenue is being made every time the widget is viewed as well as when someone clicks on it and this ad revenue is shared with DenverPost.com as well as AFP.
If you'd like to learn more about NewsGator's free Olympic widget platform that guarantees $0.20 CPM, click here.
Can't get enough US presidential campaign news? Consider adding The Economist's US Election Widget to your Facebook profile. Once you add it to your profile you can also add it to your blog or start page by clicking "Get This widget" in the lower left hand portion of the widget on Facebook.
How do you get it, you ask? Simply click "Get this widget" on the widget to the right --OR-- log into Facebook and type in "Economist" in the search field. It's the third result that comes up -- "The Economist US Election 2008." From here you can add the application to your profile or Facebook pages.
And while you're on Facebook, become a fan of NewsGator! Or, join the Friends of NewsGator group.
I wrote, last week, about the launch of a new Washington Post Newsweek Interactive Campaign Tracker application for Windows Mobile phones. This novel product is getting some media coverage that I wanted to share with you.
There's an informative article from Mobile Marketer that explains how the election content application came to fruition as well as the partnership that helped create it. It also brings up one of the cooler parts of the app, and that is that since it's not built on a web site, users can access the latest political news wherever they are, even if they're out of wireless range on an airplane.
If you have a Windows Mobile phone and any interest in politics, make sure you check out the political candidate tracker application here.
One of NewsGator widget's clients is Raycom Media. Raycom owns 42 television stations, primarily in the southeast US. One of their affiliates -- Baton Rouge's WAFB Channel 9 -- has a very successful recipe widget (seen at right) which we created for them. I'm highlighting it today because of its very high interaction rates, which proves it's connecting with visitors to WAFB's online site. At NewsGator we measure both in-page statistics (where the widget originally lives, which is WAFB's site) as well as viral statistics (additional sites the widget has been added to when people click "get this"). The statistics for both are very impressive. For starters, 6% of people who visit WAFB's site clicked on the recipes in the widget. While this may not sound that high, generally a 1-2% interaction rate with widgets is considered good. In addition, 16% of site visitors either rated the recipes or e-mailed them to other people; that means that nearly one in five site visitors are engaging with the widget. Impressive. The viral statistics are equally impressive: 3% of visitors to sites (other than WAFB) where the widget have been added click on the recipes, and 19% of visitors either rate the recipes or e-mail them to friends. These high rates of interaction and engagement prove that Raycom Media and WAFB did all the right things when deploying the widget, such as making it prominent and visible, allowing people to put it on other sites, making the content within it relevant and interesting, and promoting the widget.
I'd like to take a moment to point your attention to one of the cooler widgets that NewsGator powers. One of our clients is Earth Knowledge, which is a resource for information about the earth. A widget we created for them appears on the front page of their site.
This widget is notable because it is highly dynamic, interacts with Google Maps, and has multiple tabs. Depending on the content you choose -- biological diversity, water, climate, land -- links to different stories will be displayed. Even cooler, the widget links these categories, as well as individual stories, with geographic indicators on a map.
This widget is an example of the very interactive and complex nature of some of the widgets we've created for our clients. Check it out here!
CBS is one of the many media outlets that has widgets powered by NewsGator technology. Recently, they released a media gallery of the widgets that are live on their site, the majority of which were built by NewsGator.
A perusal through this gallery will provide you with an excellent idea of the breadth and depth of online content and content sources that NewsGator can help you syndicate. Check out the Top News widget for Facebook, or the Political News widget we power. One of the most popular widgets that we've created for CBS are the presidential candidate widgets. For instance, check out the Barack Obama candidate widget, a screen shot of which is shown at right.
NewsGator widgets can dramatically extend your site's reach and improve monetization. If you are in print, broadcast or online media and distribute content, make sure you look through the wide variety of widgets NewsGator has produced for CBS.
On this blog, we'll frequently be highlighting a wide range of widgets produced by NewsGator, so make sure you check back often.
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Josh Larson
Assistant Marketing Manager
joshl@newsgator.com
View my page on NewsGator Widgets
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