BY MICHAEL LIEDTKE
AP Business Writer
SAN FRANCISCO Max Levchin already
changed electronic commerce as a co-
founder of PayPal, an online payment serv-
ice that is expected to process more than $40
billion in transactions this year.
Now, he's tinkering with a new way to
make money off Internet widgets — high-
tech shorthand for the mini-applications
planted on the personal pages of online
social networks and other popular Web sites
like Google.
Levchin's latest startup, Slide Inc., has
emerged as the No. 1 widget maker so far,
largely because its programming tools have
made it easy for people to add more pizazz
to the pictures and videos decorating trendy
hangouts like MySpace,Facebook and Bebo.
Hoping to cash in, the 32-year-old
Levchin will push Slide down a potentially
slippery slope Monday when he injects
advertising into the mix for the first time.
"On the surface,it seems like a risky idea
because what if (users) don't want advertis-
ing in their widgets?"Levchin said. He con-
cluded his idea would only work by making
all the ads "user-initiated"— that is, the
marketing messages only appear ifusers vol-
untarily choose to blend a marketing cam-
paign into their own personal widgets.
Levchin and Slide's senior advertising
director, Sonya Chowla, insist the approach
isn't as kooky as it might sound.After all,they
point out that consumers for years have will-
ingly become walking billboards by buying
clothing promoting the brands of major cor-
porations like Nike Inc.and Coca-Cola Co.
Given that behavior, Chowla doesn't
think it's that much ofa leap to assume peo-
ple will turn their widgets into platforms for
showing offa trendy cell phone or attaching
links to hot movies and television shows.
"We are really good at getting people to
take things and include them on their social
networking pages,"Chowla said. "We think
we can persuade our users to become brand
ambassadors."
Lisa Weinstein,a managing director ofad
agency MindShare, said Web surfers have
proven they will distribute advertising
online by steering their friends and family to
commercial clips posted on YouTube.
For the approach to work with widgets,
advertisers and their agencies "will have to
do it in a way that adds value to the experi-
ence, rather than interrupting or disrupting
it,"Weinstein said.
The initial list of major advertisers hop-
ing to get their commercial inserted into
Slide's widgets include Viacom Inc.'s
Paramount Pictures, AT&T Inc. and
Discovery Communications Inc.'s Discovery
Channel.
As widgets are melded into more Web
sites, they are becoming a more attractive
target for advertisers looking to connect
with consumers who are spending less time
watching television, listening to the radio,
and reading newspapers and magazines.
In May, 221 million people worldwide
saw at least one Internet widget,according to
the latest data from the research firm
comScore Media Metrix. Slide's toolbox of
widgets, bearing names like "Slideshows,"
"Funpix," and "Skinflix," was the market
leader with nearly 129 million viewers
worldwide.
San Francisco-based Slide largely is pig-
gybacking on the rapid growth ofsocial net-
works, where its widgets are commonly
deployed. News Corp.'s MySpace attracted
114 million worldwide visitors in June, a 72
percent increase from last year.
PayPal co-founder slides in new
direction with his latest company

first post

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