The Phoenix Network:
 
 
About  |  Advertise
 
Big Fat Whale  |  Failure  |  Hoopleville  |  Lifestyle Features
BritPop_1000x50

Ask me anything

A  free instant answer to any question is just a text away. But what do ChaCha’s guides have that , say, librarians don’t?
By CAITLIN E. CURRAN  |  September 3, 2008

080905_chacha_main

It used to be that, if you had a burning question (depending on the degree of difficulty), you had to a) ask your mom; b) consult a Magic 8 Ball; or c) trek to the top of a mountain to seek out a sagacious, all-knowing guru. Now all you have to do is search the Interwebs.

But while most knowledge seekers turn to Google and other search engines, newer sites like Yahoo Answers utilize an approach that’s so archaic, it’s practically Luddite: they employ actual people to answer your questions, via wiki-style community contribution. ChaCha, a new company that launched this past January, is taking that idea one step further, by having employees (ChaCha calls them “guides”) personally research your questions online, and text message you an answer. It’s like having a smart cabana boy. And it’s free.

Here’s how it works: anyone in the US with a cell phone can send a text message to 242-242 (“ChaCha,” get it?), asking any question: will it rain today? What’s in hummus? When will Guns N’ Roses release Chinese Democracy? Within about 10 minutes, a guide should text back the answer. (Probably. Mainly chickpeas, tahini, and olive oil. Maybe never.)

“Most services out there just take what’s on the Web and refit it for a text message,” says Susan Marshall, vice-president of marketing for ChaCha, on the phone from their Indiana headquarters, in reference to similar, but automated, question-answering services, such as Google SMS. Hence the often frustrating and irrelevant answers Google SMS can return — like wrong places or “no results” — when all you want is the name of that damn pizza place on Brighton Avenue. “People want simple answers to questions, and with the guides, we’re able to give them that.”

Marshall says ChaCha currently employs approximately 15,000 guides, who field millions of calls each month — about 500 answer questions each hour. Typically, a guide earns 20 cents per text-message answer, though ChaCha seems to be in a constant state of re-valuating its payment system and its guide-training process, and restructuring its Web site. The whole operation is funded by advertising sponsors (whose one-line ads appear at the bottom of some of Cha Cha’s texts) covetous of an aggressive text-messaging demo.

I texted ChaCha on a Thursday afternoon. “What’s the best strategy for kickball?” I queried, smart-assedly. Moments later, my phone buzzed to life with a text reply: “Surprisingly, it’s best to kick low toward third base, as outfielders will catch most harder kicks.” It was almost like texting with a very wise friend — except that my friends don’t usually send advertisements for Coke Zero with their messages.

Go ahead, fire away
Taking it a step further, I followed the allure of the ChaCha come-on — “It’s the most flexible job ever!” promised the flashing maroon Web site. “Use your brainpower anytime, anywhere!” — and decided to register on chacha.com and myself don the guise of a ChaCha guide.

1  |  2  |  3  |   next >
Related: The crash course, Year in pictures, Pride at 39, More more >
  Topics: Lifestyle Features , Radiohead, Media, Guns N' Roses,  More more >
| More
1 Comments / Add Comment

elena3070

Congrats on becoming a guide, hope you are still having fun with it! I'm a full time college student and being a chacha guide is the perfect way to make some extra income. Of course some guides don't care about being clever or totally accurate with their answers but the incentive is that better guides get paid more per question (top guides get $0.20 over $0.10 per question) and bad guides get 'terminated'. Besides, like you said, people just want that human connection regardless if they are asking because they need directions, are trying to win a bet, or just lonely.

Posted: September 09 2008 at 9:27 AM
Add Comment
HTML Prohibited

 Friends' Activity   Popular   Most Viewed 
ARTICLES BY CAITLIN E. CURRAN
Share this entry with Delicious
  •   . . . AND SO IS YOUR MOM  |  August 08, 2011
    Va te faire enculer . Sounds lovely, doesn’t it? Actually, I just told you to fuck off. Pardon my French!
  •   PRIDE AT 39  |  June 01, 2009
    Not to downplay this year's Pride Week or anything, but the annual weeklong mélange of events geared toward New England's lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender community is just one year shy of its 40th anniversary. Which makes it sort of like the night before Christmas.
  •   THE CRASH COURSE  |  May 06, 2009
    It was a sunny but brisk Friday afternoon in March when my bike was hit.
  •   EAT IT, HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL!  |  May 06, 2009
    It's a Thursday afternoon at Lexington High, and 20 or so students have congregated in a music room surrounded by racks of folding chairs and sporting a sleek black Steinway baby grand.
  •   THE SOCIETY OF THE SPECTACLE  |  April 24, 2009
    Of Montreal live at the Paradise, April 21

 See all articles by: CAITLIN E. CURRAN

MOST POPULAR
RSS Feed of for the most popular articles
 Most Viewed   Most Emailed