Google's New Comment Feature: Big Media Relations Potential

Sorry I didn't jump on this for you right away -- I've been in Vegas for some R&R at the Wynn.

Last week, Google announced that it would add the ability to post comments on stories running on Google News. They said that any "participant" in a story -- a quoted person or a representative of an organization mentioned -- could comment on it to add perspective, their own point-of-view, and so on. Google said it would add comments by hand -- after people submit comments, they would verify the person's identity before posting, and for now, they would actually solicit comments.

This does sound like one of Google's wackier ideas. But the germ of the idea certainly has potential. While there are all kinds of scenarios for possible abuse, there's also the possibility that these comments could allow newsmakers to add crucial details and context that is so often left out of news stories.

This move also forces media outlets to wake up and add comment boxes to their news stories. Far too few mainstream media allow online comments, showing once again their pre-Internet bias for news dissemination.

For PR pros, this move has huge potential. Looking down the road, we may finally have the opportunity to add our point-of-view to stories, rather than simply sitting hopelessly by as stories are published that skew or misrepresent us. So stay tuned as this develops.

I'd love to show you links for stories that include Google comments, but unfortunately, I haven't found any myself yet. So here's a link to a blog that did: Google Operating System.

Here's a link to the Google News Comments FAQ.