Are you looking for a way to make the links you share more useful? Layers lets you layer your thoughts over any existing web page, along with pictures and videos. So, you can share both the original content and your own thoughts on the same page.

To use it, just paste the URL of the page you want to annotate into your Layers account, then add a title for your layer, your notes and any accompanying images and videos.

Layers will then create a new page that shows your additions over the original page content.  You can share your layer quickly via email, or copy the URL and post it on Facebook or Twitter.  If anyone else has created a layer for that page, you can view their layers also for additional perspective.  Plus, you can follow other Layers users and see the pages that  they have created.

Layers has a somewhat similar concept to Google’s Sidewiki and to services like DotSpots. However, unlike Sidewiki, your comments and images appear by themselves on the page, instead of being lumped in with comments from other users and voted up or down. Unlike Dotspots, you don’t have to use Firefox to use the service.

Layers is easy to use, although the I found the user interface somewhat “busy.”  Plus, I think it would be nice if the Layers team added “Share” buttons for social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. Also, it would be nice if they added a bookmarklet to make it easier to create layers as you browse the web.

Even without these features, however, the service is definitely useful. Over on Web Worker Daily, Darrell Etherington has made an excellent list of ways to use Layers for both fun and business purposes. Check his post out, check Layers out, and let us know what you think in the comments!

Our Rating of Layers

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