A few years ago I had a business with an office located on a prime location at the corner of one of the major cross streets in town. Just outside was our sign and below that was a large white space, which someone took upon themselves to graffiti one day. Obviously the graffiti wasn’t affiliated with our business, but it kind of was. I mean it was right there, beneath our sign. It was linked to it.
We had the landlord paint over it but the next day the “artist” came back and tagged the sign again. So the following week we had it painted again and as soon as the paint dried the graffiti was back. Eventually, we moved offices and didn’t have to worry about it, but now and again, I’ll drive by there and that graffiti is still there.
When Google Sidewiki was released a few weeks ago it reminded me of that whole incident. It’s kind of a virtual wall of graffiti in my opinion that stays with your website for better or worse. Basically, anyone who downloads the Sidewiki tool bar can activate Sidewiki, which appears like a sidebar to the website they are viewing. That person can then see any comments others have made about the website they are viewing and leave comments themselves.
This may be interesting for the person viewing the website with Sidewiki but a little unnerving for the business whose website it’s attached to because anyone can say anything. They can talk about a bad experience, they can promote another business and that business can do nothing about it and the comments will come up with any Sidewiki user’s toolbar.
But businesses can do something about it. The best way to protect your reputation is to embrace Sidewiki as part of your overall cyber public relations or social media plan. Start the comments going. Reply to others who comment. Monitor it. In short, get involved. Create your presence on Sidewiki and be part of the discussion. As they say, if you can’t beat ’em join ’em. You’ve got your rep to protect.