• by Chris Cunningham , Op-Ed Contributor, November 14, 2007

In a letter to his rival and fellow scientist Robert Hooke, Sir Isaac Newton famously wrote, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."

Newton would have loved the Internet. Like all great scientists, he thrived on discovery, even when that discovery led to full-scale disruption. The Internet is rich with disruptive potential, and has already revolutionized media, commerce and communications. And the media, commerce and communications aspects of every industry ranging from Home Improvement to Travel & Tourism, Politics to Waste Management, has been turned upside down in the process.

It's hard not to get excited about Facebook's new advertising programs. Never mind that they've started a great buzzword soup of social media, word-of-mouth and advanced targeting, or that there may finally be some hope of monetizing about a gazillion page views per month. I'm a fan of Facebook because their advertising grows out of the same exact conditions that have allowed widget marketing to flourish over the past year. In fact, I would hypothesize that were it not for widget marketing's shoulders to stand on, Facebook wouldn't have nearly the perspective it needs to set out in the direction it did. So to Facebook, I offer a hearty "You're welcome."

For the past year Freewebs has been the leader in online interactive widget campaigns - successfully running campaigns for Six Flags, Cingular, Universal Studios, Paramount Pictures, Adidas, Reebok, Sony Pictures, New Line Cinema and V05 - to name a few. Without these successful campaigns Facebook's programs couldn't have been launched a year ago.

In all successful widget campaigns, there are a couple of metrics that aren't easily planned for in advance or tracked in a spreadsheet, but are perhaps equally as informative to marketers considering a widget campaign. They are:

Mindshare: Widgets have rapidly earned a place at media strategy tables. At Freewebs, we are receiving RFPs that expressly include sections on "Widget Brief" or "Widget Strategy". And the level of integration within the plan is nothing short of inspired. Advertisers who have worked with widgets in the past are clearly putting a lot of resources into weaving them creatively and effectively into subsequent campaigns.

Advertiser Distribution: We are seeing financial services, automotive, consumer durables; even personal care companies make inroads into widget marketing. Some of the brands you will see on widgets in the near future may surprise you, and may also tip you off that the demographic using widgets is more varied than you might have thought as well.

Repeat Advertisers: As a publisher, this is a metric we're especially interested in. But it's also a tacit testimonial to marketers considering widget marketing campaigns themselves. Those who try it come back for more. And they put more energy behind it each time, producing higher quality campaigns and turning out stronger results.

So the bar for social media / widget campaigns has already been set high. Facebook's program is a logical progression of where the industry was headed.

Will Facebook's advertising be successful? If their objective is to encourage marketers to rethink advertising within the social graph, Facebook's programs were successful before they even launched. Chris Cunningham is Vice President for Global Sales at Freewebs. At cocktail parties he shamelessly introduces himself as "Widgetman." E-mail him at chris@freewebs.com.