Social search and Sidewiki – not game changing, but the game is changing

PR industry bible PR Week caught up with the debate about Sidewiki this week.

While it isn’t the best idea Google has come up with (the company needs to balance user experience with its business relationships) and is a serious headache for pharmaceutical companies, it isn’t all that bad and some reactions have been over the top.

Sidewiki is a toolbar plug-in that users will have to download to see wiki content on pages. The question remains as to how many will actually bother installing it.

Social Search

You may well have noticed Google Social Search pop into Google Labs this week, or read Patrick’s post highlighting what it means for SEO.

At the moment it is an opt in option that presents relevant search results from social networks you subscribe to in universal search results. Google says:-

With Social Search, you’ll be able to more easily find relevant public content from your social circle, such as the following:

• Websites, blogs, public profiles, and other content linked from your friends’ Google profiles.
• Web content, such as status updates, tweets, and reviews, from social services that your friends have listed in their Google profiles.
• Relevant articles from your Google Reader subscriptions.

For now it is opt in and for those who don’t have a Google account, or aren’t always signed into theirs, it will remain so if it stays in its current form. Even those with a Google account will have to add profiles from other networks to make full use of it.

So although this feature will likely prove more popular than Sidewiki, the user still has to make a conscious effort to activate it.

The Google effect

As Patrick said in his post now is the time for SEOs to look at Social Search’s data points and increase users, subscribers and friends in relevant networks.

One of the best ways of doing that as a company or brand  is to look at what you can offer as a whole – now more than ever before is the time to seriously think about creating a social media marketing strategy that will engage a new audience with your brand. SEO is a major reason for you to get involved in social media, but shouldn’t be the only one.

While Social Search and Sidewiki are interesting developments users have to decide to download or configure them, with immediate and universal adoption highly unlikely.  In that sense there is still breathing space, but brands now  seriously need to think about whether they want to opt in as Google starts to throw its weight behind social media.

I'm a PR consultant and former journalist with a love of all things internet and social media related, particularly the space within which SEO, digital maketing, social media and online PR meet. I've worked on a range of consumer and corporate accounts, with everyone from SMEs to charities and social enterprises to multinational corporations. Find me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/joelturner

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