Today I noticed a similarity in two advertising widgets. I am not going to make any assumptions on whether or not one inspired the other, but I just want to make a few observations on the two.

I first heard about the OneYearGoal.com FireBoard back on July 16, 2007 when it was released. Initially I didn’t think much about the widget because I wasn’t into monetization at the time, but the idea seemed quite innovative. FireBoard allows you to pay $1 to get a link under a category labeled, “Featured Sites.”

Today as I was surfing the net I came across ScratchBack.com and immediately remembered the FireBoard tool. Right away I noticed how the two function almost exactly the same. Yes, the ScratchBack.com widget is much more commercialized, but they basically seem to do the same thing. The ScratchBack.com widget allows you place a certain amount on your available spaces and places them under a header which reads, “Are you in my TopSpots?”

Are these two widgets similar? I think so. Perhaps just two different individuals with two similar widgets. I am just here to make observations.