The ReadWriteWeb article (via The New York Times) provides an overview of Answers.com and their WikiAnswers service from a business angle. However, that doesn’t mean it’s not of value to the info pro.

“Answers” has been around for years. Remember Atomica? Remember Gurnet? These companies became Answers.com. WikiAnswers launched in February, 2007. and allows users to have questions asked and answered. Answers.com also provides the definition of search terms at the top of a Google results page.

Let’s begin with an important question that the author, Richard Macmanus, asks near the end of the article:

…if you search Google for a reference article and the first page of results is littered with Answers.com and Demand Media (eHow.com) articles, is that crowding out the real topic experts?

Takeaways from the Article:

+ Answers.com has moved from 26 to 13 in comScore rankings in only two months.

+ The growth in traffic on Answers.com is largely due to WikiAnswers.

+ Most of Answers.com’s revenue comes via Google AdSense.

+ According to Google page estimates (not always accurate totals), show Answers.com and WikiAnswers have a total of 38 million pages in the Google database. For comparison sake, Wikipedia has 56 million and NY Times offers 13.2 million.

Ed. Note: Even more reason to 1) Use than more than one search engine 2) Learn a few concepts that can help you narrow and focus a search 3) Know about and use specialty databases and search tools. Trying to build a virtual reference shelf with key resources before you need to use them. This is similar to the print model.

Source: NY Times / ReadWriteWeb

Ed. Note: The actual Answers.com database offers content from many excellent sources from respected publishers when you search the “reference topics” portion of the service. However, a visit to the Answers.com home page shows that the site is really focusing on the WikiAnswers (as noted in the article, inexpensive content). Just accessing (searching or browsing) “reference topics” can be a challenge. You can also get to some of these well-known sources by browsing the Answers Library. In just a few minutes browsing the Answers Library we accessed content from Oxford University Press and Gale.

Also, are information professionals and educators are aware of WikiAnswers just like they know about Wikipedia? This doesn’t mean not to use WikiAnswers but rather to have your critical information skills on high alert when using it.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 and is filed under Information Industry, Reference Tools, Social Media. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.