As this is the first public blog post with a Qwidget attached, we here at Qwidget headquarters (a quarter of a loft in Hell’s Kitchen, NYC) are feeling like this is a new day.  A new start for us.  A big change.  We started life as a company producing content only to realize that web publishers and bloggers like us needed a better way to engage their audiences around their content.  So we set out to build the Qwidget.

A lot of people in America and the rest of the world are also feeling like a new day is upon us.  Some are excited about that; some are not.  So the first question that we are asking with the Qwidget should be fairly obvious.  Please spend the few seconds it takes to create an account and give an answer.  If someone else has given an interesting response, send a quick reply.  They will get it next time they answer a Qwidget question (no matter what question they are answering and no matter what site they are on).  A few things may not work as this the first public appearance of the Qwidget, but please be understanding with us while we improve the service.  Change is never easy, you know.

I’m very excited to announce that today we are launching the new Qwidget website and logo.  I am tempted to explain all the reasons that I think our logo totally rocks and why it perfectly represents the Qwidget.  However, a logo should make a statement without the impassioned backing of the product manager, so I’m going to be quiet and let it do the talking.

The logo was designed by the talented designer (and my very good friend) Erin Kilkenny whose work can be found here.  Both the Qwidget blog and the main Qwidget.com site were done by another very talented web designer Marco Castro.  His work is here. [Ed. note: Ever the honorable designer, Marco asked me to point out that Erin played very strong role in coming up with the concept for the site design which Marco then refined and implemented.]

With the launch of qwidget.com, we are revealing the actual functionality of the Qwidget - what it does, how it does it and how it can help you as a blogger generate conversations on your blog.  For a complete run through on all of that, check out the feature tour.  You can also get a quick sense from the graphic below, which also appears on the main qwidget.com site.  Also, be sure to check out the video demo that I put together for the main site.  And please leave feedback here.  I plan on updating it and revising it according to feedback I get here.

In the coming days, we will be putting the Qwidget up on this blog so you can test out the features.  And shortly after that, we’ll be releasing it to our initial group of beta testers.  If you’re interested in joining that group, please sign up here.