Google have just released a very interesting social media application called Google Sidewiki which can be installed by downloading a toolbar, which is currently available for Firefox and Internet Explorer with a Chrome version on the way.

So, what is Google Sidewiki?

Google sidewiki is an application that appears to the left of any pages you are browsing and it allows you to enter whatever information you think is appropriate for that web page. For example, you might add useful information that will add to the value of the content or you might enter information showing that you disagree with the content. Anybody browsing that page will then see this content displayed.

Here’s a video which is quicker than reading !

Can you give me a practical example?

I decided to take a look at a popular site called yelp.com to see if anybody had started using this sidewiki. There was a sidewiki comment posted which gave a link to an article which questioned the ethics of yelp.com. The article basically accused Yelp of charging money so you could move more positive reviews to the top of the list so the negative reviews appear lower. In this case the CEO responded to this and his resonse also appears within the sidewiki.

Yelp – Google Side Wiki

Is this functionality useful?

This functionality could be very useful for a number of reasons:

• Additional relevant information could be added to the information on your website which will add to the content.
• People may be more inclined to give feedback on your website which would be useful.
• It creates more engagement with your audience so you can get them to interact with you through your website.
• It allows you to share feedback in the sidewiki with applications such as Facebook, Twitter etc.

What do I do if I don’t like the comments?

Unless the comments are outside of the Googles usage policies you can’t do a lot about the them except provide a good response back. The joys of social media!

What do you think of it?