Askmego.com - Answers to Any Question in Chat Format

Askmego, currently in beta mode, is a portal where people can go to have all of their questions answered in a one-on-one chat format. The idea is very similar to Yahoo Answers, where any community member can answer your questions and you can rate their answers according to how useful they are. The more points a person gains by contributing valuable answers, the more reputable they become. Those currently using Yahoo Answers can actually import their reputation to Askmego, making this more like an extension of the Yahoo service, but allowing you to chat with the expert of your choice. Anyone can ask a question about anything and it is also possible to solicit an answer from a user that you already know and trust based on their reputation. If you know the answer to one of the questions listed, you simply click on it and then you will be alerted by IM when that person is online.

“Askmego is an online community in which participants ask and answer questions in real-time on a wide range of topics. When you get a great answer, rate it highly and write a personal note to the person who answered your question. Askmego is a place to gain knowledge, not customers, page views, or dates. If you have years of experience in something, have a special hobby or own your own business it's OK to discuss a good that's on topic with a link to your website, blog, or email to offer more information.”

Those familiar with Yahoo Answers will know that the web-community can often be the most effective way of receiving accurate answers in a timely manner. The addition of chat to this formula should make answers even more rapid and therefore, this might well become a very successful site.

Yahoo Answers is great because it has become a searchable database of just about everything. How does Askmego hope to generate a database when all of the answers are handled in chat format and therefore would presumably not be searchable by others looking for the same answer? This is an interesting idea but it is difficult to see how this is any better to Yahoo’s Answers.