Yahoo! has announced that they are testing new functionality to add a level of social networking to their popular Answers product:
We just added a new capability to Answers, the Yahoo! Answers Network – currently in beta, which enables you to build your own personal knowledge network. So what exactly is a knowledge network? Simply put, it enables you to directly connect with people whose knowledge you value so you can easily share knowledge and discover interesting information on topics you care about. Yahoo! Search Blog
Similar to other social networking websites, you can add friends, invite others and basically build a network of question hungry people to build your “knowledge network.” For more information, you will find it at the knowledge network page.
What do you think of the changes?
Have you ever used Yahoo! Answers?
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I have used Yahoo Answers for school work and some other random question but not to sure if designing a social network around answering questions and building a “knowledge network” is such a good idea. I’ll have to try it out but I’m part of a lot of social networks as it is, as I’m sure a lot of the other readers are as well.
I’ve answered quite a few questions on Yahoo Answer just for fun. However. I really don’t get the purpose of Yahoo Answer.
What benefit does it have. There is no link back to your web site in your posts so no one ever sees your site.
As a base of knowledge it’s laughable. A big majority of the questions and answers are moronic.
Just my opinion.
Jeff,
Thank you for your thoughts.
I think that Yahoo, which I consider the social destination for the web, is trying to expand and get extra visits from people with an interest in knowledge. I know that this is vague, but it lends itself to more time on a website, which in-turn gives them the ability to sell more products, services and advertiser’s products and services.
Bob,
I think the main theme of the Answers platform is to provide for user interaction and user created content that is relevant to a topic. This is a fundamental SEO practice to gain additional exposure and traffic for the long-tail of search.
Thanks for the imput!