Google Answers
Encyclopedia
Google Answers was an online knowledge market
offered by Google
that allowed users to post bounties
for well researched answers to their queries. Asker-accepted answers cost $2 to $200. Google retained 25% of the researcher's reward and a 50 cent fee per question. In addition to the researcher's fees, a client who was satisfied with the answer could also leave a tip of up to $100. In late November 2006, Google reported that it planned to permanently shut down the service, and it was fully closed to new activity by late December 2006, although its archives remain available.
, which was launched in August 2001. This service involved Google staffers answering questions by e-mail for a flat fee (US$3.00). It was fully functional for about 24 hours, after which it was shut down, possibly due to excessive demand and the tough competition that Yahoo set in place.
Google Answers was launched in April 2002 and came out of beta in May 2003. It received more than 100 question postings per day when the service ended in December 2006.
Google opened related sites, one in Russia
also called Google Questions and Answers
and one in China
called Tianya Answers, in reference to its Chinese partner site
. In September 2009, Google launched an Arabic
version called Google Egabat or Google Ejabat (إجابات Google), meaning Google Answers.
Researchers with low ratings could be fired, a policy which encouraged eloquence and accuracy. Also, Google stated that people who commented might be selected to become Researchers, therefore inspiring high quality comments. In practice, however, hardly any new Researchers had been hired since the original process in 2002. For a Researcher, a question was answered by logging into a special researchers page and then "locking" a question they wanted to answer. This act of "locking" claimed the question for that researcher. Questions worth less than $100 could be locked for up to four hours, and questions worth more than $100 could be locked up to eight hours at a time in order to be properly answered. A Researcher could only lock one question at a time.
have criticized Google Answers as a service selling services that are part of the tasks of public librarians (in the United States
). The most vocal of these critics was former Google Answers Researcher Jessamyn West
, whose contract was terminated after she violated the site's terms of service by publishing an article about her experience as a Google Answers Researcher. Other reference librarians claimed that the service was not detrimental to libraries, but simply operated in parallel to them.
Other critics claimed that the service encourages plagiarism
. The official Google Answers policy was to remove questions that appeared to be school assignments. However, some journalists expressed concerns that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between a "legitimate" question and a homework assignment, especially in regard to sciences and programming.
. One popular question was “What is the meaning of life?” Other questions were joke requests or Chuck Norris "facts"
. One popular non-conventional practice was to ask nonsense
questions, offering bounties in the $2–5 range. Google Answers Researchers were not always keen to answer such questions.
Because the comment section was open for any registered user, it was sometimes abused by spammers
, attempting to promote a site’s PageRank by mentioning their sites. However, much of this content was removed by Google's Answers team. The site was also infested with trolls
who would use carefully crafted messages to trigger flamewars or make political statements.
, suggested that "killing the service is probably a smarter move than allowing it to languish online." In an email sent to registered researchers announcing the closure, Google wrote:
Several other free and paid knowledge markets have arisen in its place, including Yahoo! Answers
, Mahalo Answers, and Uclue
(owned and operated by former Google Answer Researchers), which more closely mimics Google Answers than most other sites.
Knowledge market
A knowledge market is a mechanism for distributing knowledge resources. There are two views on knowledge and how knowledge markets can function. One view uses a legal construct of intellectual property to make knowledge a typical scarce resource, so the traditional commodity market mechanism can be...
offered by Google
Google
Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
that allowed users to post bounties
Bounty (reward)
A bounty is a payment or reward often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or object. They are typically in the form of money...
for well researched answers to their queries. Asker-accepted answers cost $2 to $200. Google retained 25% of the researcher's reward and a 50 cent fee per question. In addition to the researcher's fees, a client who was satisfied with the answer could also leave a tip of up to $100. In late November 2006, Google reported that it planned to permanently shut down the service, and it was fully closed to new activity by late December 2006, although its archives remain available.
History
Google Answers' predecessor was Google Questions and AnswersGoogle Questions and Answers
Google Questions and Answers is a free knowledge market offered by Google that allows users to collaboratively find answers to their questions . It was launched in June 28, 2007 and replaces the fee-based Google Answers service, discontinued on December 1, 2006...
, which was launched in August 2001. This service involved Google staffers answering questions by e-mail for a flat fee (US$3.00). It was fully functional for about 24 hours, after which it was shut down, possibly due to excessive demand and the tough competition that Yahoo set in place.
Google Answers was launched in April 2002 and came out of beta in May 2003. It received more than 100 question postings per day when the service ended in December 2006.
Google opened related sites, one in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
also called Google Questions and Answers
Google Questions and Answers
Google Questions and Answers is a free knowledge market offered by Google that allows users to collaboratively find answers to their questions . It was launched in June 28, 2007 and replaces the fee-based Google Answers service, discontinued on December 1, 2006...
and one in China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
called Tianya Answers, in reference to its Chinese partner site
Tianya
Tianya may refer to:*Tianya, Sanya, town in Sanya, Hainan, China*Tianya Club, Internet forum in China*Tianya Haijiao, tourism site in Sanya, Hainan...
. In September 2009, Google launched an Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
version called Google Egabat or Google Ejabat (إجابات Google), meaning Google Answers.
Process
The site was designed as an extension to the conventional search—rather than doing the search themselves, users would pay someone else to do the search. Anyone could ask questions, offer a price for an answer, and researchers, who were called Google Answers Researchers or GARs, answered them. Researchers were not Google employees, but contractors that were required to complete an application process to be approved to answer for the site. They were limited in number (according to Google, there were more than 500 Researchers; in practice, there were fewer active Researchers). The application process tested their research and communication abilities.Researchers with low ratings could be fired, a policy which encouraged eloquence and accuracy. Also, Google stated that people who commented might be selected to become Researchers, therefore inspiring high quality comments. In practice, however, hardly any new Researchers had been hired since the original process in 2002. For a Researcher, a question was answered by logging into a special researchers page and then "locking" a question they wanted to answer. This act of "locking" claimed the question for that researcher. Questions worth less than $100 could be locked for up to four hours, and questions worth more than $100 could be locked up to eight hours at a time in order to be properly answered. A Researcher could only lock one question at a time.
Question structure
- The client's question, to which the Researcher could respond with a request for clarification if any part of a question was unclear.
- The answer, which remained empty if the question had not yet been answered. Only a Researcher could post an answer. Any Researcher could answer any question, although askers could specifically request a certain Researcher in the title or body of their question. After the answer was posted, the client could communicate with the Researcher to ask for clarification of the answer; the client could also rate the answer on a one- to five-star system and tip the Researcher for a job well done.
- The comment section, where any registered user, Researchers and non-Researchers alike, could comment on the question. Some questions were "answered" in comments before a Researcher could answer. Naturally, this section, too, could be left empty, if no comments had been posted.
Constraints
Google's policies prohibited answering questions that would obviously lead to or contain:- CopyrightCopyrightCopyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
infringement and privacyPrivacyPrivacy is the ability of an individual or group to seclude themselves or information about themselves and thereby reveal themselves selectively...
violations. - Plagiarism in homework assignments.
- Discussion of Google Answers itself, or about Google policies and mechanisms (PageRankPageRankPageRank is a link analysis algorithm, named after Larry Page and used by the Google Internet search engine, that assigns a numerical weighting to each element of a hyperlinked set of documents, such as the World Wide Web, with the purpose of "measuring" its relative importance within the set...
, for example). - Links to adult oriented sitesInternet pornographyInternet pornography is pornography that is distributed by means of various sectors of the Internet, primarily via websites, peer-to-peer file sharing, or Usenet newsgroups...
. - Promotion of illegal activities (for example, how to make a bombBombA bomb is any of a range of explosive weapons that only rely on the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy...
)
Criticism
Some librariansLibrary
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
have criticized Google Answers as a service selling services that are part of the tasks of public librarians (in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
). The most vocal of these critics was former Google Answers Researcher Jessamyn West
Jessamyn West (librarian)
Jessamyn Charity West is an American librarian and blogger, best known as the creator of librarian.net and for her unconventional views of her profession...
, whose contract was terminated after she violated the site's terms of service by publishing an article about her experience as a Google Answers Researcher. Other reference librarians claimed that the service was not detrimental to libraries, but simply operated in parallel to them.
Other critics claimed that the service encourages plagiarism
Plagiarism
Plagiarism is defined in dictionaries as the "wrongful appropriation," "close imitation," or "purloining and publication" of another author's "language, thoughts, ideas, or expressions," and the representation of them as one's own original work, but the notion remains problematic with nebulous...
. The official Google Answers policy was to remove questions that appeared to be school assignments. However, some journalists expressed concerns that sometimes it is difficult to distinguish between a "legitimate" question and a homework assignment, especially in regard to sciences and programming.
Unconventional uses
Despite its professionalism, Google Answers had also developed its own unique cybercultureCyberculture
Cyberculture is the culture that has emerged, or is emerging, from the use of computer networks for communication, entertainment and business. It is also the study of various social phenomena associated with the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities,...
. One popular question was “What is the meaning of life?” Other questions were joke requests or Chuck Norris "facts"
Chuck Norris Facts
Chuck Norris facts are satirical factoids about martial artist and actor Chuck Norris that have become an Internet phenomenon and as a result have become widespread in popular culture. The facts are normally absurd hyperbolic claims about Norris's toughness, attitude, virility, sophistication, and...
. One popular non-conventional practice was to ask nonsense
Nonsense
Nonsense is a communication, via speech, writing, or any other symbolic system, that lacks any coherent meaning. Sometimes in ordinary usage, nonsense is synonymous with absurdity or the ridiculous...
questions, offering bounties in the $2–5 range. Google Answers Researchers were not always keen to answer such questions.
Because the comment section was open for any registered user, it was sometimes abused by spammers
Spam (electronic)
Spam is the use of electronic messaging systems to send unsolicited bulk messages indiscriminately...
, attempting to promote a site’s PageRank by mentioning their sites. However, much of this content was removed by Google's Answers team. The site was also infested with trolls
Troll (Internet)
In Internet slang, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum, chat room, or blog, with the primary intent of provoking readers into an emotional response...
who would use carefully crafted messages to trigger flamewars or make political statements.
Closing of the service
On December 1, 2006, Google officially ended Google Answers. No new questions were accepted after November 30, 2006 and no new answers were accepted after December 31, 2006. All previously asked and answered questions are still available for anyone to view. Possible factors contributing to the retirement of the service include fewer people using the Google Answers service, the fact that it was no longer linked from Google's home page, and the fact that Google did not notify people when their question had been answered which thus resulted in user dissatisfaction. Danny Sullivan, editor in chief of Search Engine WatchSearch Engine Watch
Search Engine Watch is a website that provides news and information about search engines and search engine marketing. Search Engine Watch was started by Danny Sullivan in 1996. In 1997, Sullivan sold it for an undisclosed amount to MecklerMedia...
, suggested that "killing the service is probably a smarter move than allowing it to languish online." In an email sent to registered researchers announcing the closure, Google wrote:
We considered many factors in reaching this difficult decision, and ultimately decided that the Answers community's limited size and other product considerations made it more effective for us to focus our efforts on other ways to help our users find information.
Several other free and paid knowledge markets have arisen in its place, including Yahoo! Answers
Yahoo! Answers
Yahoo! Answers is a community-driven question-and-answer site or a knowledge market launched by Yahoo! on June 28, 2005 that allows users to both submit questions to be answered and answer questions asked by other users...
, Mahalo Answers, and Uclue
Uclue
Uclue is a fee-based research service staffed by former Google Answers Researchers . Uclue launched on February 28, 2007. As of May 2007, 37 former Google Answers Researchers have signed on to answer questions at Uclue. Researchers are located in North America, South America, Europe, Australia,...
(owned and operated by former Google Answer Researchers), which more closely mimics Google Answers than most other sites.
External links
- Google Answers
- dmoz reference page for google answers like websites
- "365 Days of Google Answers" A calendar with information from answers on the service for each day of the year.
- Google Guide – Google Answers
- David Sarokin, "An Insider's View of Google Answers"
- Jessamyn West. "Information for Sale: My Experience With Google Answers", Searcher, Vol. 10, No. 9. October 2002, retrieved November 21, 2006.
- Jessamyn West. "Google Answers Back Or How to Become an Ex-"Google Answers" Researcher", Searcher, Vol. 11, No. 1. January 2003, retrieved November 21, 2006.
Academic research of Google Answers
- Benjamin Edelman of Harvard UniversityHarvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
checked the Earnings and Ratings at Google Answers (pdf) - D. Bainbridge, S. J. Cunningham, J. S. Downie, “How People Describe Their Music Information Needs: A Grounded Theory Analysis Of Music Queries” (pdf)
- S.J. Cunningham, D. Bainbridge, M. Masoodian, “How people describe their image information needs: a grounded theory analysis of visual arts queries” Digital Libraries, 2004. Proceedings of the 2004 Joint ACM/IEEE Conference, June 2004
- Tobias Regner, “Why Voluntary Contributions? Google Answers” CMPO Working Paper Series No. 05/115, bris.ac.uk
- Anne R. Kenney, Nancy Y. McGovern, Ida T. Martinez, Lance J. Heidig, “Google Meets eBay: What Academic Librarians Can Learn from Alternative Information Providers” D-Lib Magazine, June 2003, Volume 9 Number 6, dlib.org
- Sheizaf RafaeliSheizaf RafaeliSheizaf Rafaeli , is an Israeli researcher, scholar of Computer-mediated communication, computer scientist, and newspaper columnist. He is Professor and Dean at the School of Management , Israel and additionally Director of and the...
, Daphne R. Raban, Gilad Ravid "Social and Economic Incentives in Google Answers", jellis.net (pdf)