MuseStorm Widget Analytics set to empower developers

By Vivek | December 5th, 2006 at 10:45 am ET         

Today I got a chance to try out the new MuseStorm’s Publishers Widget Service. The widget service, which is in closed beta right now, enables content creators/providers to create widgets for their content which can than be provided to the users to insert into their blogs and websites. Once users start installing the widgets, publishers will be able track the usage stats for their widgets. There has been lot of talk recently to enable widget usage tracking and this release from MuseStorm is first step in that direction which will help teams and developers make the right product development decisions.

To create the widget, Publishers will have to open an account at MuseStorm and provide a link to their blog or the RSS feed. MuseStorm takes this feed to generate the widget and provide you with the widget URL, which can than be given out to the users. Before users grab the widget code they customize the widget using one of the 6 basic set of designs provided. Since the service is in private beta I hope that we will see more options to enable customization widget in terms of size(180 px width is preferable) and color scheme in future

From the publisher standpoint, MuseStorm has built an analytics platform that will provide stats like Widget Impressions, Widget Impressions by Type, Widget Impressions by Style, number of new and active sites using your widget, and the number of clickthroughs from the widget content.

It is not sure how MuseStorm is looking to monetize the service, but I think cheap and effective PRO plans like FeedBurner is what publishers will like.

Personally I have talked to number of teams who are in process of building advanced widgets but want a professional stats tracking engine in place before they commit more resources to their product development. Companies like MuseStorm, WidgetBox, and ClearSpring are steps in the right direction. We still need companies to address the security aspect of widgets about which Niall Kennedy has written today.

Checkout the StartupSquad.com widget at MuseStorm and install it on your blog to provide cool Startup news and reviews. Since I got my account setup today and don’t have any stats for StartupSquad.com widget, I am providing stats image from MuseStorm itself.

Links:
StartupSquad.com widget
MuseStorm