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Google Sidewiki Lets Users Comment on Any Web Page

by Terrence O'Brien on September 24, 2009 at 07:45 AM

Google just keeps rolling out new products and features, and snatching up companies. Last week, it launched a new way to view news with Fast Flip. Then the Goog bought reCAPTCHA, a company that provides anti-spam and fraud services for Web sites. Just yesterday, it updated Google Sync to provide push e-mail service for smart phones. Now, before we've even had a chance to properly digest, Google is already unveiling another new tool called Sidewiki.

Available through the Google Toolbar, Sidewiki allows users to post and read comments about any Web site, or even attach the comments to specific content on a Web page. The comments will appear in a sidebar in the browser alongside the Web page (check out the video after the break). The hope is that visitors will use their expertise and knowledge to add valuable information to existing content on Web sites.

Google wants to differentiate the feature from existing commenting platforms by using its expertise to rank comments based on usefulness and quality. You'll be able to read comments in order of rank (based on user feedback, the user's reliability on other entries and "other signals"). Additionally, all comments will be connected to a Google profile to dissuade people from posting questionable or offensive content because of anonymity.

Google Toolbar has a large install base, but it remains to be seen if the new feature will take off, or if the search giant has merely unleashed another product -- like Google Notebook or Knol -- that is doomed to languish in obscurity. [From: paidContent and Official Google Blog]

Tags: google, google toolbar, GoogleToolbar, sidewiki, top

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