Any company or other type of organization who thought they could escape or avoid the social media revolution, are now in it whether they like it or not, not only via search, conversations on social networking and microblogging sites … but now on their own websites.
Two weeks ago, Google released Sidewiki, a Google Toolbar-based plug-in that enables web users to post or view a comment in a browser window alongside any website they are visiting (yes, any, all of them!) – even if that site doesn’t have any social functionality. Sidewiki comes with the new Google toolbar, that millions of web users are already using. And I am sure it will soon be developed as Firefox add-on soon and so forth.
The idea is simple: Every webpage, on any website, now comes with a publicly accessible discussion board. All comments are posted immediately and are ranked by usefulness.
The reality is that Sidewiki does not represent anything extremely new: there’s nowhere for companies to hide anymore. But, now, we are reaching a more advanced stage of development. And this is particularly important on the CSR/Sustainability front (including greenwashing), whether with consumers, activists, or citizens, especially noting that most of the companies are often failing leveraging digital communications to first listen, then participate or even co-create.
How to respond to Sidewiki?
If you can’t control what is being said about you (and you really can’t!) then you’d better consider getting involved. Brands, and companies behind them, are not only conversations, there are today created collaboratively and become the sum of everything that happens around them: experiences, dialogues and messages.
So far, commenting activity via Sidewiki has been relatively limited, and there is perhaps still some way to go before it becomes mainstream, but it is definitely something to keep an eye on…just to even see that Google is always ahead of the game.
To be followed!
Sources: Here and here, and here.
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