AOL Buys Widget Tech Firm

AOL acquired widget technology company Goowy Media with plans to deploy widgets that feature programming, content, applications, and ads. Special widget-based ads will permeate AOL's ad network, and allow users to take the message to other sites.

San Diego, Calif.-based Goowy Media is a widget creation company; its offerings include a tool to track and report where widgets appear, and how Web users interact with these small applications. Metrics such as which widgets get picked up by users from a particular social network, and how long users remain engaged with a particular widget are reported by the tool.

As part of the products division, Goowy will work closely with Platform A as the widget ad offering becomes available. The group will be responsible for sales of widget ads. "It'll be another tool that Platform A will be able to use as part of its toolbox or arsenal of ad solutions," said David Liu, SVP of social media, messaging, and homepages at AOL. "It offers different types of characteristics for ad buyers." AOL's Flash chat property Userplane, was also mentioned by Liu as a potential unit for selling ad inventory, and providing working with Goowy.

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