Outside In Banking

The boys in the lab have come up with a way for anyone to “easily contribute to any webpage and help others.”

Google sidewiki is a web plug-in that allows you to comment on any site or read comments posted by previous visitors.  Here’s how it works:

My take?

Consider your brand hijacked.  Whatever vestiges of control over your brand you may have had are now history.

Too dramatic?

Maybe, but I don’t think so.  If sidewiki catches on, it will be a game changer.  And, while other Google apps may have failed to gain traction, this one seems destined for success.  After all, it turns the entire web into a social medium.

It may also be the downfall of the internet.  When every statement on the web is directly attached to a counter statement, the web could devolve into pure noise—communication entropy.

But let’s say that doesn’t happen.  A more likely scenario is that brands will try to go with the flow, only to find out that they’re in a no-win situation.  So they will begin looking offline for ways to bolster their brands.

Another possibility is that sidewiki will break open a shining new age of brand/consumer collaboration.  Services and products will reach a state of continuously evolving perfection and hum along happily ever after.

I’ll believe that one when I see it. Meanwhile, I have to admit, this app is simply too cool for school.

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 15th, 2009 at 5:56 pm and is filed under Bank Marketing, Branding, Social Media, bank advertising. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.