Some news sites have had to contend with the trickle of reader comments that might have been made about them via Google’s Sidewiki.

Sidewiki, as I have written here earlier, is a Google plugin that makes it possible for visitors to share comments on sites, and it has nothing to do with any native comment system that the site itself may or may not have. 

This Google product launched a couple of months ago, is easy to use. Once installed, it can be used any time from your browser to comment on any site or page you choose.  (Download links: as part of the Google Toolbar for Firefox and Internet Explorer -  google.com/sidewiki. For Google Chrome, Safari or other browsers without the Google Toolbar -  Sidewiki bookmarklet)

I had also said that Sidewiki is not a platform for a full-fledged threaded discussion, but it can be used by any user to make public comments of any kind on any page… not just to share information.

Some news sites have been attracting Sidewiki comments; they may not be coming thick and fast but some visitors have indeed been using this feature. Not many sites seem to be thinking about the impact all this will have on the interaction options that they already offer to visitors.

Just take a look at this Sidewiki comment on the New York Times’ site:

Well now Google is making it possible to find would what visitors are saying about the site through an RSS feed. It is now offering an API that makes it possible to retrieve all entries made on a particular domain.  New entries can be seen and pulled out using an RSS feed.

Maybe,  Sidewiki  users could end up building a hidden information layer among themselves, but the question is exactly how they will use it with news sites and whether their numbers will be large enough to make any kind of impact.

Link: Sidewiki API documentation