I logged into my AIM mail account today. That’s not something I do frequently. However, if these new widgets I found waiting for me are any indication of future development, I may be giving AIM (how about AOL Mail?) a second look.

AOL is famous for having been a walled-garden portal in the past. However, as I wrote last week, AOL is really on the ball with the whole spirit of the open web by introducing ways to bring in content from such places (competitors?) as Yahoo Mail, GMail, Twitter, Facebook, etc on the main AOL homepage, which does millions of impressions every month.

And the results from this newfound embracing of openness are more engagement, more pageviews and more attention. AOL is on to something.

With these new widgets in AIM mail, you can integrate Yahoo Mail, contacts, AIM, AOL Finance, Mapquest, etc within your inbox. GMail has this same feature with its Labs platform, so it’s good to see competition there. The trick with AIM is that they are bringing in properties from outside the AOL universe (unless the AIM Mail team knows something about a Yahoo/AOL deal that we don’t). Nifty.

However, my main question is if this is a sign of the future? Will you eventually be able to update Twitter or your Facebook status (or send Facebook messages) within AIM or AOL mail as you can on the AOL home page? If so, that will be very compelling. Will I ditch GMail for AIM even if that happens? Perhaps not, but I will definitely take a second look at my AOL/AIM mail.

It’s time for web-based email clients to grow up and become platforms instead of proprietary gardens of in-house developers. I’m glad to see AOL is helping to make that happen.

AOL has been on the receiving end of much negative press in the tech and marketing blogosphere over the last few weeks as the worldwide economic downturn continues to have ripple effects in the first tier advetising sector. I’m not immune to putting the heat on them either.

Amidst all of these reports, however, the press and bloggers are overlooking the very important moves AOL is making on two fronts these days: a better persona with a revamped home page and Platform-A.

1) New Homepage and More “Openness” Will Spur Better Social Web

A revised portal is nothing new for any online company or property (especially one that deals with a variety of front-end services like AOL). Before this most recent update late last month, it had been 18 months since AOL’s last front page revision. The web changed a great deal in those 18 months, moving to a much more social and interactive nature. For the most part, web users have become much more savvy and demanding in terms of seeing beyond walled-gardens. Even Facebook, the most walled-off garden of web2.0, has had to open-up with its app platform in order to sustain momentum.

So, it was not a huge surprise that AOL would allow for thrid party content such as GMail or Yahoo Mail access.

However, the innovative trick in all of this is that AOL is also helping to spur access (and perhaps innovation) among its users for services such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace through a global status update manager. We haven’t seen this sort of push towards the social from the large portal sites, so I’m hopeful that more people will come to experience and love services like Twitter because of their reliance on AOL.

Not to mention there is a built-in RSS reader.

We who are well-versed in the social media space often forget there is a “great unwashed mass” of humanity out there who has no clue what to do with Twitter or RSS. AOL could help change that and in the process change Twitter (and even RSS) for the better.

Bill Wilson, Executive Vice President of Programming, gave me an exclusive quote on the revamp of the homepage and how it relates to their vision for better marketing campaigns and metrics:

“As the Web becomes more fragmented, consumers want choice and relevance in their Web experiences. AOL.com is the first traditional big portal to offer access to popular social networking sites all in one place. Now consumers can connect with their numerous networks and information sources all from AOL.com.

We have already seen success by opening up AOL.com to other e-mail providers. We will continue to enhance the appeal of our portal with the changes we are making today by adding more relevant programming, customization opportunities, greater integration of third party content, improved design and access to social networks directly from AOL.com.”

“We are creating opportunities for advertisers to reach consumers through engaging and relevant content. As part of this redesign, there are more robust capabilities for advertisers including customized wallpapers, increased rich media capabilities, much deeper and richer content integration opportunities and more.

For example, a recent one-day advertisement for the new Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull DVD provided a chance for the advertiser to own the AOL.com homepage wallpaper for the day to reach consumers in a highly customizable and measurable way.”

I don’t see this as a replacement for iGoogle or NetVibes (or myAOL), but I do see the new AOL frontpage helping to push people towards those types of services as they develop an appreciation for the ability of the social web to both solve problems and provide community. Fascinating times we live in, folks.

2) Advertising.com / Platform-A / buy.at

I’ve long said that I’m bullish on AOL because of Platform-A. Simply put, I think they are doing things right across the board from large media buy type marketing down to direct performance marketing.

AOL has what every advertising company should be drooling for in terms of reach. As buy.at continues to be integrated with the overall AOL advertising family, I expect them to become leaders in our space. There’s no reason for them to fail at this point.

And with Platform-A’s reach across the globe with Advertising.com, the European ad company AdTech (not the conference), Quigo, and Tacoda to go along with buy.at, I expect AOL to come out of the global recession in fine shape.

If you’re somewhat unsure of the whole Platform-A experience, take a look at this video that the Platform-A team put together (plus, the video features one of my favorite songs…”Such Great Heights” from the Postal Service as the soundtrack… so they have good music taste as well).

At the end of the day, don’t count out AOL. The company is nostalgically synonymous with the internet in my mind (having been a teen in the mid-90′s and remembering the days of the ubiquitous AOL floppy) and given their push into the new social web as well as advertising, they could do very well at rekindling the magic.

AOL and GM have joined forces on the auto front…

AOL and General Motors Partner on Auto Channel: “AOL has partnered with General Motors to launch a channel within AOL Money & Finance geared for small businesses who are grappling with costly auto-related expenses.

The new section, dubbed Small Business Autos (smallbusiness.aol.com/business-auto-center) features tips and tools for businesses seeking auto loans and lower cost fuel options. Among the site’s initial headlines are ‘Deducting Car Expenses’ and ‘Maximize Your Office on Wheels.’ Also included is Mapquest’s gas prices tool, which helps travelers and businesses find the best gas prices in a given geographical area.”

In many ways, this is a smart play for both companies as they look for more long term growth and results from the direct online (and pre-qualified) traffic searching for problem solving measures in an economic downturn.

The question I have is how or whether AOL will leverage its buy.at affiliate platform in conjunction with this partnership.

Anyone from AOL have insight?

AOL’s integration of its services into the Platform-A advertising operation continues as it is now combining the recently acquired Goowy widget application with its buy.at affiliate network (itself acquired last year).

This is a big deal for a couple of reasons. First, this opens up affiliate marketing, in earnest, to the social web. Affiliate marketing has traditionally been restricted to the realm of static sites and blogs because of limited tracking technology and creatives. However, this widget play changes the game.

For example, Ticketmaster.com is the first buy.at advertiser to work with Platform-A in developing and distributing this new affiliate feature. The widget, called “EventEngine,” can be tailored to promote specific Ticketmaster events. All ticket purchases that originate from Ticketmaster’s widget are credited to the buy.at affiliate network publisher.

Once a publisher places a widget on their website, anyone (including the publisher) can grab that widget and place it on various locations on the Web, including social networks, desktops and blogs. The original publisher earns revenue for each sale driven by the widget.

Secondly, this makes sense for advertisers. Ticketmaster’s example with EventEngine shows that widgets can and will transform the online advertising and marketing landscape in the coming years by leveraging the best of the social web and performance marketing. In many ways, this is the type of solution that many of us have been calling for, and it is great to see an ad or affiliate network finally answering the call.

Nice work, Platform-A.