Naturally, as Facebook Application Developers, we have to complain whenever an app is called a “widget.”

Petty complaints aside, this New York Times profile of Snap Interactive makes some interesting points. Mainly, it demonstrates something that many of our clients are skeptical about- Facebook can drive off-site traffic.

Snap’s non-Facebook traffic has increased by an order of magnitude, even though it’s outside the confines of Facebook. The same can be true for brands, websites, and other interested parties. We’ve seen it in affiliate sales and consulting work- traffic is traffic, and it’s never “stuck” inside Facebook.

That’s something to appreciate about applications. We’ll leave widgets to the analysts.