Amazon Launches Askville Answers
Less than two weeks after Google killed its paid answer service due to competition from Yahoo, Amazon has now launched its own.
The e-retail leader has been quietly promoting Askville, which launched on December 8th, through email announcements and ads on its website. “Askville is a place where you can ask any question on any topic and get real answers from real people. It’s a fun place to meet others with similar interests to you and a place where you can share what you know,” read one email announcement.
Google’s system was paid, Yahoo’s system is free, but Amazon’s Askville system is something else. Askville uses a virtual currency called “Quest Coins,” which users earn by performing different actions such as asking or answering questions. These “Quest Coins” will be redeemable for prizes and other rewards on the Questville.com website, which launches in 2007.
Users also earn or loose experience points depending on how the community judges their answers. These points determine the user’s level of knowledge in a particular category. The higher a user’s level, the more abilities they gain on Askville.
Amazon guarantees an answer to every legitimate question. Questions remain open for seven days. During that time, the asker will receive up to five answers from the Askville community. Answers are hidden from the community until the Question is closed, keeping question plagiarism to a minimum. If people in the community don’t provide an answer, Amazon turns to its human-powered task system Mechanical Turk.
Askville has been an invite-only beta since October.
Article Sponsor
More News
Reader Comments.
No comments yet
Leave a Comment
Spotlight
Goodmail: Video-in-Email the Next GoldmineADOTAS EXCLUSIVE — Email marketing can be both effective and controversial. As a marketer, this is a great opportunity to [...] more...
Features
- Revenge of the Nerds: A Smart(er) Social Strategy July 24th 2008
- The Fatal Flaw of Pay for Performance July 23rd 2008
- The Architecture of Creativity July 23rd 2008
- Google Slaps Affiliate Marketers (Again) July 22nd 2008
- Marketing to Women Is So 2007 July 21st 2008
Latest News
- Private Social Network Facebook To Go Web Wide July 24th 2008
- AdMob Launches New iPhone Ads, Shells Out $1M to Developers July 24th 2008
- AdReady Partners With WhitePages.com July 24th 2008
- NeoEdge To Guarantee Ad Performance With Makegoods July 24th 2008
- Hiring Round-Up: Microsoft, interCLICK, Peer 39 July 24th 2008
- Rumor: Comcast to Snap of Daily Candy for $75M July 24th 2008
- AOL Launches AmEx-Sponsored Site for Music Junkies July 24th 2008
- Is Steve Jobs Really “Doing Well” and “Cancer Free”? July 23rd 2008
Reader Favorites
Classifieds
Most Commented
- Google Slaps Affiliate Marketers (Again) (11)
- Google Sucks: Why It Might Be a Good Thing (8)
- Why Top Publishers Bash Ad Networks (7)
- Marketing to Women Is So 2007 (7)
- Serious Software Bugs Reported in iPhones (6)
- No Recession For Online Advertising, Promise (4)
- Raiders Of The Lost ROI (4)
- “Cheaper” iPhone Prompts Deceptive Pricing War (4)
