This story has been stirring debate since it was announced last night: Google News is going to allow comments on its stories, but only by those individuals and organizations who are "actual participants" in the stories.

For communicators, this is quite interesting. A way to respond to stories as they appear on this very large and influential news aggregator.

Our long-term vision is that any participant will be able to send in their comments, and we'll show them next to the articles about the story. Comments will be published in full, without any edits, but marked as "comments" so readers know it's the individual's perspective, rather than part of a journalist's report.

So what is the bar for being qualified as a participant? That's not entirely clear, but it offers fascinating possibilities.

In politics, for example, candidates -- and their staffs? -- could respond to every story about them. But what about stories looking at other candidates that merely mention them? How about companies whose products are discussed or reviewed? What about celebrities who are being dragged through the mud?

What a tremendous opportunity for debate! But also, what an opportunity for spam, spam, spam... Just imagine what will happen when lawyers start getting into the game.

I'm fascinated to see how this shakes out. If it becomes a popular feature, every major business, public figure and politician will need to create a "Google Desk" to monitor and respond to Google News stories immediately.

Hmmm. It's certainly an interesting time to be a communicator.

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