Aardvark: A Better Social Q&A Than Twitter
Aardvark is a neat new service that lives in your IM client and which routes any question you might have to an Aardvark user who has the right expertise to answer your query. In return, Aardvark will also send you a few questions every day that fit your profile. You then decide to either answer the question or refer it to another friend. Of course, you can also always pass if you don't know the answer.
Aardvark will come out of its private beta during SXSW, but we have a few invites for you if you want to try it out now.
Aardvark was developed by The Mechanical Zoo, a San Francisco-based company that raised $5.25 million from August Capital and Baseline Ventures last October.
When you sign up with Aardvark, you simply add some basic information about your location, the topics you want to answer questions about, and your preferred IM client. Aardvark supports Google Talk, AIM, and Microsoft's Live Messenger. After this, Aardvark will live in your IM client and you simply ask it whatever question you might have in plain English.
Aardvark analyzes your questions, determines what they are about, and then passes them on to the people in your Aardvark network - or, if nobody in your direct network fits the bill, it will pass it on to the rest of the Aardvark community.
Q&A
In our tests, this worked surprisingly well. We did, for example, ask Aardvark about what parties to go to at SXSW and received an answer within a few minutes. When we asked for local clothing stores in Portland, OR, a good answer came in even faster. We even got some good book recommendations through Aardvark.
Aardvark features a number of simple commands that allow you to interact with the service and that are always explained in your conversations with Aardvark. When you get an answer, for example, you can simply type 'thanks' to send a thank-you note, or, whenever you feel like answering questions, just type in 'try' and Aardvark will look for a question that fits your expertise.
Better Than Twitter?
In our internal tests, we realized that a lot of the answers often rivaled those we received when asking our Twitter network. Thanks to the fact that Aardvark automatically routed our questions to people with the right expertise, all the answers we received so far were top-notch. In case you didn't like the answer (or if it was obscene), you can flag it and rate it on the service's website.
Overall, we think this is a great service and it is definitely one of the coolest products in this space that we have tested in the last couple of months.
Invites
Aardvark is scheduled to launch during SXSW, but we will send out an invite to the first 25 commenters on this post. Note: if you use your Facebook Connect or OpenID credentials to comment here, we won't see your email address!
Facebook
Comments
Subscribe to comments for this post OR Subscribe to comments for all ReadWriteWeb posts
May I get an invite please. Thanks.
I want an invite too.
Could I get an invite please. Thank you.
I'm interested in an invite, thanks.
I'd like an invite, thanks.
Could I get an invite please?. Thanks :)
Interesting! I'd like to try it too, so if you have an invite for me it would be great.
nicely chosen graphic: everyone has a cyclist, foodie, physicist and a grandpa as friends!
Posted by: Rohit Khare
|
March 10, 2009 12:31 PM
Just a quick note - if you sign in with Facebook Connect, we don't see your email addresses and we can't forward the invites to you. Sorry for the inconvenience!
looks very interesting! curious to see how it hooks up with the various protocols...
I would like one. Thanks.
Could i get a pass, thanks
I'd like an invite too.
I'd like to give this a try as well.
This one actually seems kinda interesting.
Could I get a pass as well.
Yes, please.
I'd like an invite as well.
Invite please. Thanks.
Sounds awesome. I'd love to try it.
I'd like to try this also.
Thanks.
Sounds interesting. I'd like to try it out.
I'd like to try it, too.
Trying it again without the facebook connect. Sorry and Thanks again
I want an invite!
I'd like a try!
I would love to try this out.
Neat concept. I'd enjoy the opportunity to test out Aardvark and blog about it as well!
invite please!
I'd like an invite! Thanks!
I wrote something very similar awhile back:
http://www.charleshudson.net/im-bullish-on-aardvark-and-twitter-should-take-notes
I've been using Vark for awhile and it really does rock. Go team Vark!
I'd like an invite, please. Thanks
I'd love to try it!
I'd to try too :)
Invite please!
Rats - missed out :( have to be fast!
Dang, I really wanted an invite...oh well...just gonna have to wait...
OOh, can I get an invite please? This looks really interesting!
I'd like an invite, too, pls. Cheers!
The first 20 entries don't count ... right ? --that makes me something like 23 (depending on how many posted while I typed).
why not make it the first 50 ? :-)
If it's still possible, I'd like to have an invite as well.
We decided to run the list up to 50 invites, so keep them coming. After 50, however, we will have to call it quits.
Hoping to be one of the first 50.
50! pleasE!
i would like to try :)
if there's any left, i'd like an invite please...thanks! There's definitely something interesting about this business model.
Did I type fast enough?
in before 50...
Please send if you have any left! I'll definitely use it.
would love to try
1 2 Next