eBuzz - Widgets, ecommerce, and social networking

Widgets, ecommerce, and social networking

Those of you who attended the Search Engine Strategies conference last month in San Jose will remember that one of the big buzzwords for search right now is social networking. It's here, and it's here to stay.

Click-Z expert Jack Aaronson agrees. In an article last week titled Walking in a Widget Wonderland, he explored Amazon's new entry into the world of social networking via widgets. "In addition to these widgets, all of which feature customizable products and display skins" he writes, "Amazon is offering an invisible widget called Quick Linker (that) enables bloggers to easily link text to Amazon products by automatically putting the user's affiliate link in the blog."

The Internet, claims the WSJ, is the "next media phenomenon," noting that the television network ABC will now be airing its shows on AOL. Primetime dramas and comedies such as Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty will now be offered free of charge on the Internet.

While it's significant that Amazon is going after blog traffic, equally significant is that none of its connections are being made specifically to ecommerce; they're all linking to product information. But what if a blog could lead to an ordering page? Seems that's the next step, for Amazon - or any ecommerce company wishing to take full advantage of the exploding social media and networking milieu.

And that's our take on the news today!

Click here to return to eBuzz Archives