Google launched Sidewiki, a sort of universal commenting system that allows users to comment on any page or a selected piece of text on the web. This new feature is being added to the Google Toolbar for Firefox and Internet Explorer (download here) while Chrome support is not yet ready . Once comments are posted to any web page using Sidewiki, those comments will be then visible to other toolbar owners visiting that page. Users also have the option of voting any comment which they like. The comments are not displayed based on the recent entries but are being ranked using an algorithm. The ranking algorithm takes into account various factors such as votes from other users, previous entry made by the same author with the aim to filter low quality comments. You can share your comments with your Twitter or Facebook accounts and can also embed videos into Sidewiki. Google’s Group Product Manager Caesar Sengupta tells paidContent

Company wants to help foster and create communities around different web pages and provide a functionality that is currently missing from most websites.

This is not the first time that someone is trying to develop similar kind of commenting system. There are companies who have tried (ThirdVoice) and others who are still trying (like Glue, DotSpots) in the similar space. But this time it is being done by Google, so the results may vary.

Snapshot via CrunchBase

Follow-Up

TechCrunch: Google Steps Where Many Have Stumbled:Sidewiki by Michael Arrington

GigaOm: Google Launches Sidewiki- More Like a Universal Commenting System by Om Malik

Techgeist: Google SideWiki Divorces Commenting From Publishers by Alex Wilhelm

ReadWriteWeb: Annotate the Web: Google Launches Sidewiki by Frederic Lardinois

paidContent: Google’s Latest Ambition: Universal Commenting System For The Web by Joseph Tartakoff

Image Credit: VentureBeat