Google Answers Shuts Down
You must have heard of Yahoo Answers. It’s a free question and answer service that is doing very well. This cannot be said about Google’s version of Questions and Answers, which is not very well known. Google Answers was launched in June 2002 and it is based on a paid model, where anyone can pay a couple bucks to get a professional to answer a challenging question. You enter how much you want to pay for an answer to your question and Google employed 800 Researchers to provide the answers. I see a strong need for both services but I realized today that Google Answers is shutting down. Google did not specify why they are shutting down but its pretty clear that the service is just not doing that well.
Some blogs compare Google Answers to Yahoo Answers but they are really based on a different model and I don’t think they should be compared. One thing I noticed is that Yahoo really advertised its service, when you search on Yahoo you get a special section on the bottom that shows results from Yahoo Answers to your search keyword. Google Answers has always been pretty much hidden, so I wonder if they would have succeeded if the service was promoted more. One feature I would have loved to see on Google Answers is a secure way of letting anyone answer questions and get paid for their research. Poor answers can always be rejected. This would make it more social and attract more traffic. Maybe there is a good reason why this was never done, but it looks like other Q&A websites are implementing this type of model. Anyways, if you are a big fan of Google Answers, you might want to sign the Keep Google Answers Alive petition. Just for fun.
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