Google sidewiki closing down

“Google Sidewiki closing down - how to export your entries

Dear Sidewiki contributor,

You are receiving this mail because you have contributed one or more entries to Sidewiki. We have decided to discontinue Sidewiki (blog post), so we want to make sure you have a chance to export your valuable contributions.

To export your Sidewiki entries, go to http://www.google.com/sidewiki/ and follow the instructions. If you wish to export your Sidewiki entries, you will need to do this before December 5, 2011, after which time we’ll be discontinuing support for Sidewiki and deleting all content.

We’d like to take this opportunity to thank you for using Sidewiki and helping make it a compelling product.

Thanks,
The Sidewiki team”

Comments

[Dick Williams]

Google is tough on its services and tough on those who use its services...if the service doesn't carry its own weight and produce revenue for Google.

I used Sidewiki a few times - no loss to me that it's going away although I thought the idea behind it was ok - allowing users to offer comments on any website or web page. Of course that's uncontrolled so buyer beware when reading Sidewiki comments. Like Wikipedia and the internet in general some comments will be well informed and others will be misleading, posted from a particular viewpoint or just plan wrong.

Buzz is another service biting the dust - used it - not much but I do have some stuff there I want to download and preserve - the account of my recuperation after knee surgery. I think Jim was my only subscriber so the world at large won't miss my commentary on that service. But some did use it and for those folks it'll be disruptive to find another service.

I think everything is now dominated by Facebook and Twitter. They've become the unofficial record of one's life - at least for some people. I do FB sort of reluctantly - and Twitter not at all. If and when Google buys them out I think they're safe - like You Tube. The user base is enormous and Google likes enormous.

What's next after Google? The lifetime of an internet service is about 5 to 10 years. It was a Netscape world long, long ago - and AOL and Delphi. Today it's FB, Google, You Tube and Twitter.

Who'll be on top ten years from now? Maybe Showmeblog. Goes around comes around the Jim's got dibs on "first" - maybe he'll also be "last". Last man standing when whatever comes after the internet arrives on the scene.