Google Brings Back Web Site Annotation with Sidewiki

By 2001 web startup Third Voice, which let people annotate websites via a browser plugin, was done. Website owners just didn’t like the idea of people “defacing” their websites with comments they couldn’t control.

But the idea has lingered (really), and now Google (GOOG) is taking a shot at their own version of the service. It’s called Sidewiki, and it just launched.

Sidewiki is part of Google Toolbar (and it will be built directly into Google’s Chrome browser). Users activate the service by clicking on a button and a sidebar appears to the left of whatever website is being viewed. The user can then leave a comment on the entire page or a selected piece of text, and share the URL via email, Twitter or Facebook (stalwart Google partner MySpace is left off for now, but Google says they’ll add more partners later). Users can also embed videos into the Sidewiki.

Other users can read and vote comments up or down. All those votes will create a user ranking for each individual that will determine where their comments fall on the Sidewiki. The higher the ranking, the higher comments appear. The goal, Google says, is to help move better content up and move spammy stuff to the bottom where it won’t be seen. Website owners who have claimed their sites always have the right to the first comment on any URL they control.

Google says Sidewiki is absolutely separate from last year’s SearchWiki, and comments/votes won’t be aggregated.

Besides the sites I listed above, TechCrunch50 startup DotSpots, which launched publicly last week, is very similar to Sidewiki. Its no surprise, then, that Google VP Marissa Mayer liked Dotspots so much when it first demo’d in 2008: “It’s a really beautiful idea and I really like anything that pushes the web forward in that way.”

Will this work? It’s unlikely that websites will have the same visceral reaction today that they did to Third Voice a decade ago. And Google solves the chicken-and-egg problem nicely by building this into Toolbar. The real question is whether they can control spam, which has plagued SearchWiki. And I guess the other real question is, how long until they put ads in it?

Google Toolbar users will be upgraded over the next several weeks automatically and offered the use of Sidewiki. Those of you who want to try it immediately can find the download link here. Google is also making an API available for developers to access and use the data.

Original post

Comments

[Jackafuss:]

What has escaped comment is that Google is allowing people to build an "internet body of work". The Google public profile of individuals shows blogs written, pictures posted, twitter status and now comments. Yes, seeking alpha and other sites have similar features, but through the Google Toolbar and later the Chrome Browser, Google has the presence needed to make commenting in this way a habitual practice. The best commentators will see their work rise to the top. It is a nice idea.

Sep 23 02:30 PM

[Hedged In:]

Sidewiki is smart for GOOG - it potentially gives it future ad inventory on every web page on the internet, irrespective of whether Google owns that web page. And as the comment above notes, it means that Google owns the "community" on website. But this is potentially bad for the large publishers like NWS NYT YHOO MSFT.

The challenge will be whether people will use something that is a Google Toolbar feature and later a browser feature, instead of plain text on a webpage.

Sep 24 02:19 AM