February 4, 2008 4:35 AM PST

AOL gets widgety with Goowy acquisition

by Caroline McCarthy
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AOL announced on Monday that it has purchased Goowy Media, a company that has created technology for widget creation and analytics reporting. AOL has been partnering with Goowy since early in 2007; financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.

To consumers, Goowy is best-known as the parent company of Yourminis, a widget creation and discovery engine.

But the Time Warner unit's aim with Goowy is more likely on the advertising front. AOL recently relocated its headquarters from Virginia to New York to bolster its Madison Avenue street cred; the former online-service powerhouse has been attempting to reshape itself as a digital-media company with profits stemming primarily from advertising, not subscription revenues.

AOL stated in a press release on Monday that Goowy's technology will be used in part for widget-based advertising, providing both more interactive content and detailed statistics on where and how the widgets are being used.

Caroline McCarthy, a CNET News staff writer, is a downtown Manhattanite happily addicted to social-media tools and restaurant blogs. Her pre-CNET resume includes interning at an IT security firm and brewing cappuccinos. E-mail Caroline.
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by cinde23 October 14, 2008 4:55 PM PDT
aol/goowy absolutely sucks.!!!!!!!!!
i've had to re-enter all information requested 4 and 5 times and it still won't accept it.
they blew it!!!!!!!!
goowy was an an interesting idea but involving the idiots at aol screwed the pooch. they can't even figure out how to migrate the account!
i'll go elsewhere
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About The Social

CNET News' Caroline McCarthy is a downtown Manhattanite who believes that, despite popular opinion, the Web can actually help your social life. She's happily addicted to fun social-media tools from Twitter to Yelp to Facebook, sends an inordinate number of text messages, and has a tendency to waste time at the office reading restaurant blogs. Here, she explores all facets of the Web's gregarious side, as well as the unique tech culture in her home city of New York. (Don't call it Silicon Alley.)

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