Google Sidewiki fills up with abuse
Launched recently and without much fanfare, Sidewiki is an addition to Google's toolbar that allows anyone with an iGoogle account, to leave comments on any web page.
I presented this new development to delegates at a recent B2B Social Media Workshop, I expected a reaction of shock and concern regarding potential abuse of this facility.
I wasn't disappointed.
Less than a week later it would appear that those concerned delegates were right to fear the 'wisdom of the crowd'.
Major brands such as Apple, Microsoft and The Daily Mail already have abuse on their own sites.
Apple is accused of lying and shipping products with 'severe bugs', Microsoft.com is described as "useless" and "crap", whilst The Daily Mail's home page has "sad toss" and a link to The Guardian.co.uk (one of its main competitors) appearing at the top.
The Apple.com sidewiki post mentioned.
The sidewiki is described as allowing you to publish useful information about web pages from within your browser, currently only IE and Firefox with Chrome coming soon. A somewhat Utopian perspective? Or perhaps my cynicism is premature, we shall see.
Right now I think that Brands need to stock up their grain-houses of awareness in this new area of social media as Google isn't the first to market with the sidewiki.
Blerp.com have been around for the best part of a year and with some hefty venture capitalist funding secured, those signed up to their 'layered' service can already place video, images, podcasts and comments, not just in a sidebar but anywhere on the page and serve it to their friends, twitter and facebook style.
How long do you think it will be before Google are providing similar functionality?
Business and Brand owners/managers, this is a 'heads up'.
