Google unveils Sidewiki

Sunday 27 September 2009 | By Heidi Scott, Gosh! Media Copywriter

Web giant Google has, not for the first time, attempted to steal the limelight from its rival Yahoo! by launching its new comment-sharing browser tool, Google Sidewiki, the day after Yahoo! released its new-look Yahoo! Search.

Google Sidewiki – currently available as a feature of Google Toolbar for Firefox and Internet Explorer, and reportedly coming soon to Google Chrome and others – allows Internet users to share their insights on any web page. Google Sidewiki appears as a browser sidebar, where users can read and write entries along the side of the page.

Google Sidewiki

'How are these entries ranked?', we hear you ask. Well, it wouldn't be a Google feature if it didn't have a special ranking algorithm to place the most relevant comments first, would it? Although it's tempting to see this ranking as Google once again playing God, Gosh! Media has to admit that the feature wouldn't be of much use without the dross being weeded out in some way.

Google's Sundar Pichai (Vice President, Product Management) and Michal Cierniak, (Engineering Lead for Google Sidewiki) explained the philosophy behind Sidewiki in the Official Google Blog on 23 September:

"In developing Sidewiki, we wanted to make sure that you'll see the most relevant entries first. We worked hard from the beginning to figure out which ones should appear on top and how to best order them. So instead of displaying the most recent entries first, we rank Sidewiki entries using an algorithm that promotes the most useful, high-quality entries. It takes into account feedback from you and other users, previous entries made by the same author and many other signals we developed."

Google's Sidewiki technology will also take your entry about a particular page and show it next to other pages that contain the same snippet of text. For example, an entry on a speech by Gordon Brown will appear on all web pages that include the same quotation. Comments from relevant blog posts and other sources are also brought in.

Those wanting to try Google Sidewiki for themselves can download it here: google.com/sidewiki

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