Google Sidewiki: What Do You Think of It?

[Ceres]

What does everyone think of Google's latest feature: Google Sidewiki?

Sidewiki is a new addition to the Google Toolbar, which allows users to read and add comments about a website they visit. An algorithm will be used to display the most useful, high-quality entries. If you want to submit a comment, you need to sign in to your Google Account.

My understanding is that currently only those who've installed the Google Toolbar (with Sidewiki feature turned on) can view such comments made about a website. So if you want to find out if someone has written comments about your site and monitor your reputation, you'll need to install the Google Toolbar… clever Google... [edit: see update below].

While it's definitely a cool feature, and Google is promoting Sidewiki as a way to share insights and information, I'm worried that the commenting system will be abused by competitors (this was also a concern with the Alexa reviews feature).

Here's what the different-coloured Sidewiki buttons mean:

Yellow Sidewiki icon – there are comments for the page you're viewing.

White Sidewiki icon – there are no entries for the page you're viewing.

Grey Sidewiki icon - commenting is unavailable for the page you're viewing (usually if you've visited an encrypted page or the Sidewiki service is currently unavailable).

Apparently, Sidewiki will soon be available on Google Chrome and elsewhere too.

What do you think of Google Sidewiki? Will you be using it to perhaps comment on websites or to monitor your own websites?

*Update: Some quick thinking Amit Agarwal by of Digital Inspiration. Looks like he has created a workaround that allows you to read and vote on Sidewiki entries without using the Google Toolbar.