I've been playing with the new Google sidewiki feature that comes with the latest version of Google Desktop. It's awesome, but I can see big problems in the future from a reputation management point of view. These are: 1. Anyone can make any comment about any web page on the internet. 2. Web site owners cannot delete or moderate comments 3. Marketers could use sidewiki to draw away visitors to other sites 4. Password sharing for news and porn sites will become a problem The upside is that it gives power to the masses. Been ripped off? Just leave a sidewiki comment for all to see. It's going to be interesting.
I can't believe I had to scroll to find a post on this here! I believe this is a pure case of a bad mistake bordering on insanity. Are we as webmasters and business owners going to allow the control of comments on our sites whether we like it or not? Can you imagine the implications of this? How soon before the first competitor attack is under way? How long before the spam starts appearing on my website, with my competitors url right there, them trashing me..... OH YEAH!!! This will work out fine! http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/help-and-learn-from-others-as-you.html I can see it now: "100 Favorable Comments Posted on your Google SideWiki..Only $29.99!!!"
Both of you guys are right on the money, as usual big G rushed to implement without thinking it all the way thru. What puzzles me is, WHY did G come up with this? What problem were they trying to fix? It's not as if the SW influences serps and helps G control spam. And it's only for Toolbar users, a distinct minority. Do G truly believe this will help searchers find more relevant results?
i could not agree more on this. im all for google improving things, but sometimes their method is somewhat megalomaniacal and perhaps goes too far. the fact that they are removing a webmasters control of their site (in some ways) and yes there will be tons of people ready to exploit this feature. People selling Good comments for your site and bad comments on a competitors site. there is no way google can moderate this, i tried to get one of my own google maps listing removed by reporting it and its still there a month later. the fact that google make themselves in-accessible is only going to encourage abuse of the system big thumbs down from me
there has to be a fix soon on this, it will be a tool for competitors to shack down on each other, this is terrible..
i wouldnt hold your breath, google does what it wants and does not really care who gets crushed in the process