diff --git a/awesomerc b/awesomerc
index b6cd2ba66..47876597a 100644
--- a/awesomerc
+++ b/awesomerc
@@ -29,7 +29,7 @@ screen 0
         layoutinfo mylayoutinfo {}
         netwmicon mynetwmicon {}
         focustitle myfocustitle  {}
-        textbox mytextbox {}
+        textbox mytextbox { text = "awesome!" }
     }
 }
 
diff --git a/config.c b/config.c
index f88889bfe..cebbe62d7 100644
--- a/config.c
+++ b/config.c
@@ -343,7 +343,7 @@ config_parse(const char *confpatharg)
     };
     static cfg_opt_t widget_textbox_opts[] =
     {
-        CFG_STR((char *) "default", (char *) NULL, CFGF_NONE),
+        CFG_STR((char *) "text", (char *) NULL, CFGF_NONE),
         CFG_STR((char *) "fg", (char *) NULL, CFGF_NONE),
         CFG_STR((char *) "bg", (char *) NULL, CFGF_NONE),
         CFG_END()
diff --git a/widgets/textbox.c b/widgets/textbox.c
index 654995bb0..f979b0f53 100644
--- a/widgets/textbox.c
+++ b/widgets/textbox.c
@@ -91,7 +91,7 @@ textbox_new(Statusbar *statusbar, cfg_t *config)
     else
         d->bg = globalconf.screens[statusbar->screen].colors_normal[ColBG];
 
-    update(w, cfg_getstr(config, "default"));
+    update(w, cfg_getstr(config, "text"));
     return w;
 }
 // vim: filetype=c:expandtab:shiftwidth=4:tabstop=8:softtabstop=4:encoding=utf-8:textwidth=80