AOL integrates widget tech to boost social-net ads

NEW YORK—Install a little photo program to show off pictures of your dog on Facebook, and you might find you're really spreading an ad.

Time Warner Inc.'s AOL said Wednesday it was integrating technology from its newly acquired Goowy Media Inc. to help advertisers pitch their products and services at social-networking sites, which have struggled to generate revenue despite heavy traffic.

Advertisers can buy ads for pet care and other services on AOL's Widgnet advertising network, and they will run on certain applications for the online hangouts Facebook and AOL's Bebo. Revenue would be shared between AOL and the application developer, but not the social-networking sites.

In addition, advertisers can create programs known as widgets using Goowy's technology and wrap an ad around them. Users of supported social-networking sites, which also include News Corp.'s MySpace and AOL's AIM Profile Pages, can add the widget to their personal profile page, customizing it with, say, a photo of their own pet.

In a sense, users are doing the work of advertisers in spreading word of their brand and interacting with it.

AOL is offering this free to advertisers already using AOL's ad services elsewhere. That's part of a broader effort by AOL to boost its advertising revenue and offset declines in legacy Internet access subscriptions.

"Widget-based advertising is gaining momentum in the industry," said Lynda Clarizio, president of Platform-A, AOL's advertising arm.