You’d have to be a fool, or someone seeking a topical introduction for a blog post, to make predictions for the coming year. So, I’ll stick my neck out and predict that this time next year we’ll all be much more familiar with the Google ‘sidewiki’.
Google launched sidewiki in September 2009
Launched back in September 2009, the sidewiki enables anyone with the Google toolbar installed on their web browser to read and post comments about any webpage they visit. Google explained their big idea behind it like this:
“As you browse the web, it’s easy to forget how many people visit the same pages and look for the same information. Whether you’re researching advice on heart disease prevention or looking for museums to visit in New York City, many others have done the same and could have added their knowledge along the way. What if everyone, from a local expert to a renowned doctor, had an easy way of sharing their insights with you about any page on the web? What if you could add your own insights for others who are passing through?”
It is a natural extension of the online review sites and features that have people leaving their views of holiday destinations and hotels on Trip Advisor; reviewing and rating products they have bought on Amazon; and sharing what they think about the latest album releases on I-Tunes.
This kind of peer-review is really helpful, both for consumers and providers of products and services.
I read recently somewhere (but annoyingly can’t now find the source, so you’ll just have to take my word for it!) that products on Amazon with a mix of good, neutral and negative customer reviews tend to sell better that those with only positive reviews.
There is a lot to be said for authenticity, and a good mix of reviews will reflect that no product is perfect and that any purchase is a trade off between quality, cost and meeting specific needs. A mix of reviews helps the consumer build confidence that the product they’re buying is the right one for them.
In the public sector it is possible, if it catches on, that the sidewiki could provide a forum for patients to swap views and get information to help them make decisions about where to receive care. NHS Choices was set up with this aim in mind and sites like Patient Opinion have tried to do the same, using choice as a positive driver to improve service quality. But patients haven’t taken to the idea of ‘shopping around’ for NHS care in the way they do for consumer goods.
It seems more likely to me that people will post comments about a hospital or other NHS service in a sidewiki on webpages about that service, rather than go to a dedicated review site to do so. But while the majority of the British public do not view NHS services in the same way they do consumer goods, the danger is the ones who do post comments will be the disgruntled ones.
If you are a brand manager or website owner, the problem with sidewiki is that it effectively allows anyone to put what has been referred to as ‘digital graffiti’ on your site. As the comments posted in the sidewiki effectively reside in the Google toolbar, a website owner has absolutely no control over what is in there.
In the digital age we all accept that there may be unfair or inaccurate comments and material about our product or service somewhere on the web that we can’t control. But people have to search this out or stumble across it. What is different with the sidewiki is that everyone visiting your site who has the sidewiki installed will be able to read whatever has been posted about you.
The concerns about ‘digital graffiti’ are perhaps a little alarmist, and products and services that satisfy their customers should have little to worry about and perhaps much to gain, but the sidewiki is definitely a new front on which we need to be vigilant to protect our reputations.
If you’re not already doing so, you need to sign up to sidewiki and monitor whether people are posting on your pages. If they are, you need to listen to and understand what they are saying about you. Then you need to join in the conversation with them, building engagement, as well as getting your own points across.
The sidewiki cometh?
You’d have to be a fool, or someone seeking a topical introduction for a blog post, to make predictions for the coming year. So, I’ll stick my neck out and predict that this time next year we’ll all be much more familiar with the Google ‘sidewiki’.
Google launched sidewiki in September 2009
Launched back in September 2009, the sidewiki enables anyone with the Google toolbar installed on their web browser to read and post comments about any webpage they visit. Google explained their big idea behind it like this:
“As you browse the web, it’s easy to forget how many people visit the same pages and look for the same information. Whether you’re researching advice on heart disease prevention or looking for museums to visit in New York City, many others have done the same and could have added their knowledge along the way. What if everyone, from a local expert to a renowned doctor, had an easy way of sharing their insights with you about any page on the web? What if you could add your own insights for others who are passing through?”
It is a natural extension of the online review sites and features that have people leaving their views of holiday destinations and hotels on Trip Advisor; reviewing and rating products they have bought on Amazon; and sharing what they think about the latest album releases on I-Tunes.
This kind of peer-review is really helpful, both for consumers and providers of products and services.
I read recently somewhere (but annoyingly can’t now find the source, so you’ll just have to take my word for it!) that products on Amazon with a mix of good, neutral and negative customer reviews tend to sell better that those with only positive reviews.
There is a lot to be said for authenticity, and a good mix of reviews will reflect that no product is perfect and that any purchase is a trade off between quality, cost and meeting specific needs. A mix of reviews helps the consumer build confidence that the product they’re buying is the right one for them.
In the public sector it is possible, if it catches on, that the sidewiki could provide a forum for patients to swap views and get information to help them make decisions about where to receive care. NHS Choices was set up with this aim in mind and sites like Patient Opinion have tried to do the same, using choice as a positive driver to improve service quality. But patients haven’t taken to the idea of ‘shopping around’ for NHS care in the way they do for consumer goods.
It seems more likely to me that people will post comments about a hospital or other NHS service in a sidewiki on webpages about that service, rather than go to a dedicated review site to do so. But while the majority of the British public do not view NHS services in the same way they do consumer goods, the danger is the ones who do post comments will be the disgruntled ones.
If you are a brand manager or website owner, the problem with sidewiki is that it effectively allows anyone to put what has been referred to as ‘digital graffiti’ on your site. As the comments posted in the sidewiki effectively reside in the Google toolbar, a website owner has absolutely no control over what is in there.
In the digital age we all accept that there may be unfair or inaccurate comments and material about our product or service somewhere on the web that we can’t control. But people have to search this out or stumble across it. What is different with the sidewiki is that everyone visiting your site who has the sidewiki installed will be able to read whatever has been posted about you.
The concerns about ‘digital graffiti’ are perhaps a little alarmist, and products and services that satisfy their customers should have little to worry about and perhaps much to gain, but the sidewiki is definitely a new front on which we need to be vigilant to protect our reputations.
If you’re not already doing so, you need to sign up to sidewiki and monitor whether people are posting on your pages. If they are, you need to listen to and understand what they are saying about you. Then you need to join in the conversation with them, building engagement, as well as getting your own points across.