Y! / Google Answers — why Amazon.com should care?!

On the face of it Yahoo’s new offering Y! Answers might seem “similar” to Google answers or other similar services that may exist out there, but its a refreshingly different offering. Anyone can ask any question. Unlike Google Answers though:

1. Anyone can answer any question, unlike a limited set of vetted “answerers”.
2. You don’t have to pay to get your questions answered.
3. You or the community decides the best answer after a certain period of time.

The nice (and evolving) scoring system that has been put in place makes it a very fun process too! Two common questions that people have asked me are:

1. Why not simply search online for your question?
2. What’s the incentive for people to spend time and answer questions?

The answer to the former is simple. Search engines are not good yet to answer questions like this (I had friends visiting me over Christmas!):

I got 3 good answers to my question in less than 10 minutes!

The answer to the latter is a combination of addiction, competition (increasing your score) and monetization. If you go to Y! answers and click on your name on the top next to your score then you are taken to a page that lists your score details, past asked/answered questions etc. At the bottom you will see this (Disclaimer: I work on the YPN team):

Its not clear yet how Y! plans to reward publishers. But advertising next to search results has already been put into place:

This brings me to my final point: “Why Amazon.com should care?”. The reason Amazon should care is:

• People will soon start asking questions as to why Amazon does not reward its customers who post comments / product reviews on its website. Its anyone’s guess that these reviews help Amazon in a big way. Why not say a Thank You by giving reviewers discounts or gift card $$ ??
• Product reviews are usually never comprehensive. Why not put a simple Q&A feature in place where people can ask simple product questions and get them answered. They could show the recently asked or answered questions on the home-page etc.