That title gives me sci-fi visions of an army of Econ-101-manufacturing-units marching over a hill to overtake an unsuspecting fictional Orwellian village, but it is actually the reality of our web today. Other People’s Platforms (OPP - yeah you know me, sorry, had to) is the new web where programs run on top of programs. Express yourself (yet another 90s hit - NWA, not Madonna) through your social media profiles with cool widgets that can do any number of things from sharing videos, writing graffiti, to having conversations with your friends. It’s mainstream media news now with an article in USA Today.

Americans, meanwhile, are fast catching on to the joys of the snazzy new mini-programs. Awareness and use of widgets among online users, which was less than 5% in early 2007, has zoomed to more than 39% and 26%, respectively, says JupiterResearch.

One of the early criticisms of the widgets and their makers was that there wasn’t really a clear way for how they can be monetized. I seem to remember the same things being said about web search and the internet in general in the infancy of both of them (yes, I’m dating myself). Of course there will be big money in widgets as people invent creative ways to make money — people always do.

“If 2007 was the year for widgets, then 2008 will be the year advertisers reallocate their budgets to take advantage,” says Martin Green, vice president of business for Meebo, an instantmessaging company that creates widgets.

2008 will be a very interesting year indeed.