1. A computer-implemented method, comprising: on a first computer system having one or more processors and memory storing programs executed by the one or more processors; receiving an email message that is a part of an email thread having a plurality of email messages, wherein the received email message includes a first section containing content encoded as a plain text Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (“MIME”) type and a second section containing content encoded as a gadget MIME type, wherein the second section includes gadget instructions and associated gadget data; and in response to user selection of the received email message: obtaining, using a gadget resident in the content of received email message, updated gadget data, including: analyzing, using the gadget resident in the received email message, content of the plurality of messages in the email thread; wherein the gadget is invoked by executing the gadget instructions; displaying, in body of the email message, the gadget; and updating, in the body of the email message, the displayed gadget to reflect the obtained updated gadget data.