Newsweek Says 2007 Is the “Year of the Widget”

First, Time Magazine anoints web2.0 users as the “Person of the Year” (see below for conversations on whether or not that includes those involved in the affiliate marketing community).

Now, Newsweek is describing 2007 as the “Year of the Widget.”

“It’s better than advertising,” says Om Malik. “It’s in front of your eyes constantly; that brand becomes your brand.” Your widgets certainly don’t need to come branded, however. Indeed, that’s the whole point: to help the World Wide Web become your Web”

Nice job, Om.  It is better than advertising.  As Jeff D. says in the comments below, our experience online and offline with brands is quickly becoming a part of our own identity and in the future we’ll be debating in an explicit manner on what types of brands to associate with on a day to day basis.

As Bob Dylan sings, “Things have changed.”

Is big media reading the blogs such as CPN or Steve Rubel and making these claims in order to appear as if they are not absolutely out of touch, or have they wised up to the future? Based on media buys and advertising dollars being spent, I’d say that it is the former.