Google WHAT? Before we get into the whole “fear,” thing, let’s talk about what Google Sidewiki is and is not.
Sidewiki is basically an add on to the Google Toolbar that lets you comment about any site, directly on that site, via the Google Toolbar. Once you download and enable Sidewiki you’ll see a little bubble on the left side of every web page. It looks like this:
See that little note bubble in the corner? That lets you know that Sidewiki information is available. If you click bubble or the >> tab, the Sidewiki panel opens up like this:
Check it out – what you’re looking at are comments placed onto the web page. But not all comments are shown, and the ones that do show up are denoted by a special Google algorithm. For example, some of the signals that Google uses for ranking comments are (according to our friends at Search Engine Land):
- Use of sophisticated language: “This page sucks” isn’t sophisticated; think complex sentences and ideas. Apparently, Google has a language sophistication detector now, and one that works in the 14 different languages that Sidewiki supports.
- User’s reputation: Are your comments being voted up or flagged down?
- User’s history: How long have you had a Google Profile? How long have you been commenting?
So Should Lawyers Fear Google Sidewiki?
Sidewiki is a powerful way for people to comment on websites even if there is no place on the actual site for comments to be put in. That means a lawyer with a website may be deluged with negative comments from clients and other members of the public. What’s even more interesting is that the lawyer won’t even know about it unless that lawyer has installed and activated Sidewiki on his or her own computer.
Without having Sidewiki installed and activated on your computer, you won’t know if a site has any Sidewiki comments. So if you keep your head in the sand, you may miss the opportunity to see and respond to negative comments on your online reputation.
For more information, check out this video on Sidewiki:
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