Who's Sick of Hearing the Word 'Widget'?

Darren Herman also blogs at DarrenHerman.com.

I'll be honest. I'm pretty sick of hearing the term "widget." If you look up this buzzword on Google Trends, you'll see that the search volume took off in the first quarter of 2005 and has been slowly dropping since the third quarter of 2007.

I can't tell you how many media sales execs have walked through our agency doors and tried to sell us on a widget strategy. Recently, I was also an observer during a board meeting for a venture-backed company and watched the CEO, a former Madison Avenue executive, talk about how he'd like to shift all his ad units to widgets. Widgets are the way of the future, right?

Granted, widgets do have a role in content and advertising, but they aren't the end-all and be-all.

Google Trends shows us that search volume for "apps" has been on the rise since the second quarter of 2006, and has continued to increase. Coming soon: apps for the iPhone. Get ready for this trend to continue. Apps exist in many different forms, such as traditional software, Facebook apps and, now, iPhone apps.

Introducing the buzzword competition for 2008: Apps vs. Widgets. Coming to the forefront of your digital experience, brought to you by your local VC.

Get ready. I know I am (meh).