What You Need To Know About Google Sidewiki Part I
- By Jane Dawson
- Published 01/20/2011
- Search Engines
- Unrated
In late September, Google added a new feature to their toolbar named Sidewiki. This feature allows anyone to post comments about pages they visit on the Web. Google launched this feature as a way to make the Web more interactive, provide more exchange of information and develop more community. Our articles series looks first at what Wiki is and how it is used then shows you how to use Sidewiki to your advantage while guarding against inherent dangers associated with the new feature.
Obtaining Sidewiki
Google has included Sidewiki as part of its newest toolbar. Anyone who wishes to either post to Sidewiki or view Sidewiki contents must download and install the enhanced version of the new toolbar which can be found on the Google site. The toolbar captures all of the Web pages you visit and returns Sidewiki information if available.
This feature may seem a bit like Big Brother has finally arrived, but in reality, you have probably been allowing your visit history to be captured by Google for some time. Google has had the ability to gather this data from almost the time of its inception. Users must give permission for the data to be collected and many have already done so in order to use the Google page ranking function or the web history function.
Sidewiki in Action
Now that Sidewiki is installed, you can go to a website and read the Sidewiki comments, if any. If there are Sidewiki comments associated with a web page, the viewer will see a small bubble on the left hand side of the page. An example is provided below using the Amazon.com site.
When you click on the bubble, the comments will come into view. See the example below.
You will see that there is a name. If you click on the name y
ou will be taken to that person profile where you can read any other posts that have been made. You can rate the comment or add a comment of your own by signing into your Google Services account.
Comment Ranking
Interestingly, Google applies another of its very sophisticated algorithms to the process of choosing which comments to post and in what order. Google says:
Using multiple signals based on the quality of the entry, what we know about the author, and user contributed signals such as voting and flagging, we work hard to ensure that only the highest quality, most relevant entries appear in the sidebar. Most of the engineering work for Sidewiki was dedicated to this ranking algorithm.
Danny Sullivan of Searchenginland.com translates this Googlese with some insights from discussions with Google.
Quality of entry equates to sophistication of language. Google has apparently created a sentence analyzer that discriminates between simple sentences, profanity and the like and complex sentence structure.
Voting and flagging is a reflection of what people are saying about what you are saying.
What we know about the author goes directly to the presence of the commenter in Google profiles. The more complete the profile is, the better the ranking.
Apparently there is also some quota of comments that needs to be reached before the Sidewikis show, although you will always see your own Sidewikis, even if no one else does. While Sidewiki gets going, Google is also ranking and placing blog posts into the Sidewiki space.
To Do List for Online Commerce Business Owners
Download the enhanced Google toolbar
Go to your site to see if there is a Sidewiki associated with it.
Get yourself a profile on Google so you can be counted.
Now you need to pay attention to this new feature and see where it takes us.
Obtaining Sidewiki
Google has included Sidewiki as part of its newest toolbar. Anyone who wishes to either post to Sidewiki or view Sidewiki contents must download and install the enhanced version of the new toolbar which can be found on the Google site. The toolbar captures all of the Web pages you visit and returns Sidewiki information if available.
This feature may seem a bit like Big Brother has finally arrived, but in reality, you have probably been allowing your visit history to be captured by Google for some time. Google has had the ability to gather this data from almost the time of its inception. Users must give permission for the data to be collected and many have already done so in order to use the Google page ranking function or the web history function.
Sidewiki in Action
Now that Sidewiki is installed, you can go to a website and read the Sidewiki comments, if any. If there are Sidewiki comments associated with a web page, the viewer will see a small bubble on the left hand side of the page. An example is provided below using the Amazon.com site.
When you click on the bubble, the comments will come into view. See the example below.
You will see that there is a name. If you click on the name y
Comment Ranking
Interestingly, Google applies another of its very sophisticated algorithms to the process of choosing which comments to post and in what order. Google says:
Using multiple signals based on the quality of the entry, what we know about the author, and user contributed signals such as voting and flagging, we work hard to ensure that only the highest quality, most relevant entries appear in the sidebar. Most of the engineering work for Sidewiki was dedicated to this ranking algorithm.
Danny Sullivan of Searchenginland.com translates this Googlese with some insights from discussions with Google.
Quality of entry equates to sophistication of language. Google has apparently created a sentence analyzer that discriminates between simple sentences, profanity and the like and complex sentence structure.
Voting and flagging is a reflection of what people are saying about what you are saying.
What we know about the author goes directly to the presence of the commenter in Google profiles. The more complete the profile is, the better the ranking.
Apparently there is also some quota of comments that needs to be reached before the Sidewikis show, although you will always see your own Sidewikis, even if no one else does. While Sidewiki gets going, Google is also ranking and placing blog posts into the Sidewiki space.
To Do List for Online Commerce Business Owners
Download the enhanced Google toolbar
Go to your site to see if there is a Sidewiki associated with it.
Get yourself a profile on Google so you can be counted.
Now you need to pay attention to this new feature and see where it takes us.
Jane Dawson
Wholesale forum is one of the east and biggest business forums where you can share your knowledge and information. Browse through the site and search for various ebay suppliers and distributors.
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