I just learned of an interesting new feature by Google called Sidewiki www.google.com/sidewiki It is a new feature of the Google Toolbar (currently available on IE and Firefox surprisingly not yet on Chrome).
Essentially this can create a sidebar wiki entry for every website which makes it available for public comment and feedback. This creates a very unique new realm of social networking opportunties and threats!
Useful features:
- include learning from others that have been there before you;
- customer satisfaction ratings;
- if you have a great reputation, it can really work for you since it can become a rating system like Ebay has without having to go to third party rating sites;
- you can learn what consumers like and dislike about your website so you can keep improving it.
- You have to log in to post a comment making it a little bit more credible (although you can create a new email in a minute for this purpose);
Possible threats include:
- Social sabatoge - competitors posting data derailing your true image;
- How will you deal with that impossible to please client with unrealistic expectations;
- How do you keep people (possibly competitiors from advertising on your sidewiki?;
- Google will determine which order these Wiki's show up via some undisclosed algorythm;
- Can a company require it's employess to post great things about itself to increase their rankings?
As I get comments on this, I will try to update the useful and threats bullets as people think about new ways this can be used.
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