Note: We were unable to get to the info page without being logged-in to Facebook.
To gain access to the beta you will need to submit "three great" question and answer sets to qualify.
We're not sure if this means all questions (once the service launches) will flow through a central location or group of people. It would make sense that you ask your questions of friends only, friends of friends, everybody. These are similar to the Facebook privacy settings and what Aardvark (see below), now a part of Google, offers to get questions answered. Of course, just because Facebook made their privacy settings easier to deal with does not mean that privacy concerns will not continue. So, some potential users might be weary of putting even more personal date into Facebook database. We also don't know if the service will be English only (at least from the beginning) or they are looking for beta users in all languages.
We will work to get those answers by the end of the day.
Btw, if you are chosen for the beta it comes with the possibility of a trip to Facebook HQ in Palo Alto, CA.
Here are three of several questions Facebook provides as guides to what they are looking for as far as questions to answer:
+ What are women looking for in a relationship?
+ How can I get over my fear of flying?
+ How did The Beatles find success?
We were unable to find any info if you need to cite where the answers came from/sources used.
B) Google Answers Launched April, 2002 and Discontinued, November, 2006
Who can forget all of the talk surrounding this service including the money making angle for those who accepted bids to answer questions. You needed to qualify to become Google Answers "Researcher." We always wondered besides Google what other research tools (if any) were provided? Here's an archived copy of the FAQ with a lot of info but by this point they had all of the researchers they needed so there is limited info in that section.
To make a long story short, after four years Google Answers was gone. Perhaps the reason why it was tossed was that it provided almost no traffic to the Google site. More in this article from Search Engine Watch. What's also worth mentioning is that while the info pro community got so "into" Google Answers during that time Google VP, Marissa Mayer said that 60% to 80% of products may crash and burn. Maybe that means don't get excited about to many things search related especially from from Google the commercial web search sector. Want another example? Info pros loved the Northern Light web engine. Then, one day, it's gone.
IMPORTANT
In February, 2010 Google acquired Aardvark (aka Vark), a Q & A service based on social networking concepts. We've been using it for several months (prior to the Google acquisition) and noticed questions like, Should I buy Nike's or Adidas or Is the food better on United or American, overall answers were mediocre at best. While the answers were mediocre many of the questions came from people goofing off or requiring more research than one would do for free and in a few seconds. We learned of new questions by getting an instant message. Quite often we turned off the IM client. Btw, you are not asking questions of every member of this free service. Your questions are routed to friends (they comb your address books) and friends of friends. After a while it's possible to create a large network. You can try Vark here. Give it a whirl.
A hunch. This friends, friends of friends concept will likely be a part of what Facebook offers.
D) Yahoo Answers Open to Anyone, No registration required Free
Successful (it used to receive a lot more attention than it does these days) but often the quality of the answers can leave you shaking your head. Even on it's first day, Pandia mentions quality control and spammers. The spam issue is a major one. Take a look around and you will see some quality answers but also a lot of questionable material both question and answer wise.
E) Wikianswers Open to Anyone, No registration required, Free
Started in 2004 and still online. More in this 2009 TC article. The leader of Wikia is Jimmy Wales, is also the co-founder of Wikipedia. However, Wikia is not part of the Wikimedia Foundation and is a for-profit company.
F) Mahalo Open to Anyone, No registration required, Free
Both a human powered search engine and a Q & A service. Lots of advertising. You can tip someone for a good answer and they're paid in Mahalo dollars. Either trade the Mahalo dollars in for U.S. dollars or buy something from the Mahalo Store. You can also earn Mahalo dollars for building topical pages.
Here are some recently answered questions. We spotted a few last night that if one or two additional questions could have been asked of the person asking the question, they might have received a better answer.
H) ChaCha Open to Anyone, No registration required, Free
Ask a question online or text a question. If you ask a question online, you are first taken to a database of asked and answered questions. You can also login (free) and go direct for research help. Most answers we came across did not provide sources. ChaCha is perhaps best known as a SMS (Text message answering service). Text your questions to 242-242. In the early days ChaCha charged a fee but now the service is free (of course, local text messaging rates apply).
Want to become a ChaCha researcher? This page has the details. They do pay enough to, "put some extra coins in your piggy bank."
They also have a new second Q & A/social net service where you ask people for help vs a trained ChaCha researcher named ChaCha.me Here are two questions recently asked:
A family of resources to help information workers be more effective, raise the value of information in their organisations and contribute to success. Read more »
Recently I have found myself cooing over visualisation maps (and heat maps) of health and well being resources. The content rich data is overlayed with mapping technologies, and some interesting themes and patterns are emerging.
A lot of the talk around social media in the last year has been around information overload. Social media has provided us with new and exciting ways to create content. But it has also meant learning new ways to manage and engage with social media tools. Are we teetering on the edge of an information overload precipice?
Information overload is a figment of your imagination. Or a failure of your filter. Or a symptom of your technological submissiveness. Depends on who you ask.
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Alacra Compliance saves time by aggregating information from both free and fee-based sources and enabling users to conduct an accurate federated search across these sources (coined “simultaneous search” by Alacra).
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