Google Sidewiki is a web annotation

Web annotation

A web annotation is an online annotation associated with a web resource, typically a web page. With a Web annotation system, a user can add, modify or remove information from a Web resource without modifying the resource itself...

 tool from Google

Google

Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...

, launched in September 2009. Sidewiki is a browser extension

Browser extension

A browser extension is a computer program that extends the functionality of a web browser in some way. Depending on the browser and the version, the term may be distinct from similar terms such as plug-in or add-on. Mozilla Firefox was designed with the idea of being a small and simple web browser,...

 that allows anyone logged into a Google account

Google Account

A Google Account is a user account that provides access to Google-owned services such as Blogger, YouTube, and Google Groups. A Google Account can be identified either by the username or by their unique permanent ID...

 to make and view comments about a given website

Website

A website, also written as Web site, web site, or simply site, is a collection of related web pages containing images, videos or other digital assets. A website is hosted on at least one web server, accessible via a network such as the Internet or a private local area network through an Internet...

 in a sidebar

Sidebar (computing)

The sidebar is a term that is used for a GUI element that displays various forms of information to the side of an application or desktop user interface.-Widgets in sidebars:...

. Despite the name, the tool is not a collaborative wiki

Wiki

A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...

, though the comments are editable by the author.

Shutdown

In September 2011, Google announced it would discontinue a number of its products, including Google Sidewiki.. From the Sidewiki-specific shutdown schedule:

Sidewiki will be closed down after December 5, 2011. For details, see the announcement. We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for using Sidewiki and for helping make it a compelling product.

How to export your Sidewiki contributions

After December 5, 2011 Sidewiki will be closed down and all content will be deleted. To keep your Sidewiki contributions you must export them before December 5, 2011. You can do this by following these instructions: [see schedule]

Function

Google uses ranking algorithms to determine comment relevancy and usefulness, using criteria such as users voting up and down a comment, and past user contributions. Anyone can look up a contributor's Google profile and assess their credibility. Caesar Sengupta of Google argued that the link to Google Profiles will help increase comment quality, because "People stop making trivial comments when it ties back to them." Website owners can 'claim' their site, giving them the right to the first comment on the Sidewiki for that site. Sidewiki also links to "relevant posts from blogs and other sources", a feature that is potentially gameable. Sidewiki is available for Internet Explorer

Internet Explorer

Windows Internet Explorer is a series of graphical web browsers developed by Microsoft and included as part of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting in 1995. It was first released as part of the add-on package Plus! for Windows 95 that year...

 and Firefox through Google Toolbar

Google Toolbar

Google Toolbar is an Internet browser toolbar only available for Internet Explorer and Firefox .-Google Toolbar 1.0 December 11, 2000:New features:*Direct access to the Google search functionality from any web page*Web Site search...

, and on the Google Chrome

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is a web browser developed by Google that uses the WebKit layout engine. It was first released as a beta version for Microsoft Windows on September 2, 2008, and the public stable release was on December 11, 2008. The name is derived from the graphical user interface frame, or...

 browser through an add-on. For other browsers like Safari

Safari (web browser)

Safari is a web browser developed by Apple Inc. and included with the Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. First released as a public beta on January 7, 2003 on the company's Mac OS X operating system, it became Apple's default browser beginning with Mac OS X v10.3 "Panther". Safari is also the...

, it is available as a third-party bookmarklet

Bookmarklet

A bookmarklet is Unobtrusive JavaScript stored as the URL of a bookmark in a web browser or as a hyperlink on a web page. The term is a portmanteau of the terms bookmark and applet, however, an applet is not to be confused with a bookmarklet just as JavaScript is not to be confused with Java...

. Comments can be shared via a link, email, Twitter, or Facebook, and an API is available for developers.

Reception

Sidewiki allows users to interact with a website in ways that the site owner cannot control, which has upset some website owners, though this is already the case with StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon

StumbleUpon is a discovery engine that finds and recommends web content to its users. Its features allow users to discover and rate Web pages, photos, and videos that are personalized to their tastes and interests using peer-sourcing and social-networking principles.Toolbar versions exist for...

 and Delicious. Jeff Jarvis

Jeff Jarvis

Jeff Jarvis is an American journalist. Previously he was a television critic for TV Guide and People magazine, creator of Entertainment Weekly, Sunday editor and associate publisher of the New York Daily News, and a columnist on the San Francisco Examiner.-Career:Until recently Jarvis was...

 complained that Sidewiki "takes comments away from my blog and puts them on Google. That sets up Google in channel conflict vs me. It robs my site of much of its value", and PaidContent noted that "Google is walking a fine line in its efforts to innovate in some areas that have long been the domain of traditional publishers, while not alienating them." PC Magazine commented that Sidewiki could "push site owners to make their forums more appealing on their own, and to enhance sites with no comment area with a space for reader participation." Public relations

Public relations

Public relations is the actions of a corporation, store, government, individual, etc., in promoting goodwill between itself and the public, the community, employees, customers, etc....

 professionals see Sidewiki as another venue that will need managing, but which offers an opportunity to engage with complaints and spot 'hot issues'. Mark Borkowski

Mark Borkowski

Mark Borkowski is a British PR agent and author with an interest in the history of public relations and the art of the publicity stunt. He attended King's Stanley Junior School and St Peters High School in Gloucester and began working in public relations at nineteen years old...

 predicted that "SideWiki is going to challenge PR by providing the masses with the tool for the ultimate expression of people power, something uncontainable that will need constant monitoring... SideWiki will make it impossible to promote one message and not be held to account." ArsTechnica argued that the comments were of similar value to those on existing sites such as Digg

Digg

Digg is a social news website. Prior to Digg v4, its cornerstone function consisted of letting people vote stories up or down, called digging and burying, respectively. Digg's popularity prompted the creation of copycat social networking sites with story submission and voting systems...

 and Reddit

Reddit

reddit is a social news website where the registered users submit content, in the form of either a link or a text "self" post. Other users then vote the submission "up" or "down," which is used to rank the post and determine its position on the site's pages and front page.Reddit was originally...

, and suggested that without the ability found in Wikipedia

Wikipedia

Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...

to delete and restructure material, it was a "glorified comment system".