Ask.com launches a social network that provides the answer

Ask.com is launching a social network site that will allow people to ask the community questions, and look for the best possible answers.

The project has been in the works for seven months, and is due to be launched on Tuesday. It aims to reach the approximate 87 million people who visit the search engine each month.

The three-section search box in the social community will ask, “What can we help you with today?”, and explains that users should phrase their request as a question. Keywords will appear in a box that says: “We’ll get you answers from people who know about…”. Those keywords link to the profiles of people who are willing to answer questions.

Once asked, the question will remain up in the user community for seven days. If the answer is given a ‘thumbs up’, then the question and answer move up to the top of the page.

Each person using the site also receives a ‘profile’, which will show all the questions they have asked or answered since becoming a member.

Scott Garell, president of Ask Networks, said: “It’s the complex questions where Ask will excel, similar to the lifeline on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?.

“We think the category is worth more than a billion dollars in revenue,” he added. “That’s taking the questions that get asked in the search engine and multiplying it by the revenue we make for searches.”

Future plans include adding a mobile application to accompany this, which will be launched in about two months. Apple’s iPhone will be the first to receive the app, followed by Android.

The ability to share answers on Facebook and Twitter is also a feature that Ask.com will be adding in due course.

Additionally, businesses will have a change to sign up and answer questions, and Ask.com will not charge for ‘sponsored questions’ – although this may change in time.

According to comScore, AskNetwork ranked fourth out of search engines in June 2010, capturing 3.6% of the search market.
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