Answers Blog Posts

This quote from Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address has always struck me. These ten words capture the essence of democracy in a way that my high school U.S. History textbooks never could. I was reminded of this quote this week as the Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, asked the Yahoo! Answers community for their insights on climate change -- "Congress is working on legislation to address global warming -- what would you like to see included?"

Ten years ago when the World Wide Web was just taking off, pundits declared that it would change our world. And many of their predictions have been correct -- commerce, news and information, communications, politics -- they've all been affected and in many ways transformed by the Web. The Speaker engaging the Answers community for input on active legislation is simply more evidence of the Web's transformative power. And it brings us one small step closer to the vision Lincoln outlined.

While we don't yet know how this data will be used by the Speaker and her staff, we hope you'll take the time to share your thoughts on reversing global warming.

Nathan Gamble
Yahoo! Search

You've got a burning question and you know someone out there has got the answer. We've all been in this situation and for over 90 million people worldwide, spanning 20 countries, and 9 languages, Yahoo! Answers has been the answer. The topics are varied – food & drink, relationships, pets, tattoos, baseball, consumer electronics, and everything in between – but the experience is the same. Ask your question and get an answer from the Answers community. And with over 250 million answers so far, this community has managed to help a lot of people.

But even with all that knowledge being shared, one of the biggest pieces of feedback we've gotten from our users is to make Answers "smarter", enabling them to get even better answers to their questions and connect to the smart people they know in (and out of) Answers. Well today, we think Yahoo! Answers just got a little bit smarter.

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.

More specifically, the Yahoo! Answers Network enables you to see if any of your contacts have asked a question, provided a great answer, or simply "starred" a question they found interesting. Here’s a screenshot of the Answers homepage for a user that has built out their Network:

By adding people to your network, Answers becomes a more personal, productive, and interesting experience, enabling you to tap into the knowledge of your network. There are two easy ways to build your network: 1) add anyone you find interesting in Answers simply by clicking "Add to My Contacts" – just mouse over their picture or go to their profile page; 2) invite your friends to join you on Answers. The bigger your network, the more likely you are to receive useful, timely answers to your questions from people who you know have the answers. In the end, Answers gets smarter for you because you"ll get smarter answers.

For details on how it works click here, and for even more information check out the Answers blog. And as the Yahoo! Answers Network is currently in beta, we look forward to your feedback. In just over a year, Yahoo! Answers has grown into a global community. The knowledge, expertise, wisdom, opinions, and personal experiences that are shared are truly astounding and unique to the Web, and we like to think, to Yahoo!. We hope that the addition of the Answers Network will allow our users to create lasting connections with one another and improve their lives and their communities.

The Answers Network is completely optional, so if you want to opt out you have that option. But, we hope you'll come build your personal knowledge network and grow what you know.

Elizabeth Douglas
Yahoo! Answers

In December, Yahoo! Answers reached 96% of the Q&A site market share, according to Hitwise. While the real power of the community lies with the sheer number of people on the site - 17.9 million users, says comScore - it's also exciting that those ranks include celebrities, noted experts, and even world leaders.

Recently, Indian President Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam asked the Answers community for thoughts on creating a safer place for everyone to live, one of the many leaders who have already asked, and answered questions within the Yahoo! community. And now, with the 2008 US Presidential campaign beginning to heat up, potential candidates are eager to listen to online communities and teach them about their platforms. Regardless of party affiliation, the Web represents a very active and engaged public and a potent way to reach out to people.

Today, Hillary Clinton, -- who just announced she's formed a commission to explore joining the 2008 presidential race, -- returns to Yahoo! Answers to ask the community, "Based on your own family's experience, what do you think we should do to improve health care in America?"

As the race heats up, we hope additional candidates will look to Yahoo! Answers as a way to gauge what's on the minds of Americans. Answers is an open exchange of information, knowledge and ideas, and is a non-partisan community forum.

Please go to Yahoo! Answers to respond to Hillary Clinton's question. You can also continue the discussion over on the Yahoo! Answers blog.

Patrick Crane
Yahoo! Search

Yep - it's Yahoo! Answers' first birthday - and we feel smarter already! We wanted to give a big thank you to the people who make Yahoo! Answers a resource to answer any question, and a repository of the world's knowledge. To celebrate, we're thanking some of our 16.6 million Yahoo! Answers users (comScore, November 2006) who lead the community in sharing thoughtful, high-quality knowledge and life experience with others.

• Gifts! Lots of 'em. If you're a Level Two and up, you can sign up to receive a thank you gift for sharing your knowledge with the world. Hats, mugs, fleeces, keychains, and stickers.
• Best of Answers. With millions of questions and answers, our team selected a few favorites that showcase how much we all know. As James Surowieki notes, many are smarter than a few.
• We're also having a party tonight here in California for local Yahoo! Answers users, and we've flown in 25 special guests ? resourceful and knowledgeable users who've distinguished themselves through their extraordinary performance on Yahoo! Answers, including category leaders, featured users, and more.

This is a picture of some of our answers users who've joined us in California for our birthday party!

To keep pace with our users, we've been busy enhancing the product. Since it's launch a year ago, Yahoo! Answers has really grown. We also camped out in New York City's Times Square and launched Yahoo! Answers worldwide. We drank our own Kool-Aid by developing a Yahoo! Answers area for Yahoo! products, integrated into search and into our own help pages. And there's more to come.

Happy holidays to everyone who helps make the Web a great place!

Patrick Crane
Yahoo!, VP Marketing

Today we learned that Google Answers is closing. That's a shame because some great knowledge was created on that service by the Google Answers Researchers.

The Yahoo! Answers community continues to thrive and grow. We believe in the power of community; in people helping people get answers to their questions.

So, this is an open invitation for those researchers to join us. Please consider sharing your knowledge with millions of people on Yahoo! Answers; connect with users with shared interests; get answers to all your questions; and help build the world's most vibrant and trusted community.

The folks who are researchers and information specialists have been at this longer than us, and there's a lot we can learn from you. We've set up a Yahoo! Group for former Google Answers Researchers and we'd prefer that one of the exGARs help moderate the group.

Finally, we're also going to be meeting up with some of the most prolific Yahoo! Answers users here at the Sunnyvale campus on Wednesday, December 13. And we'd like Google Answers researchers to join us, tell us what you think and get to know what we're doing here. Please drop us a line!

We look forward to seeing you on Yahoo! Answers!

Tomi Poutanen
Yahoo! Social Search

If you were given $1,000 to change the life of a perfect stranger, what would you do?

That is the big question Oprah Winfrey asks over on Yahoo! Answers. Her visit coincides with the airing of one of Oprah's favorite challenges on her television show, where audience members get $1000 and a video camera to document how they choose to spend the money to help others. Meanwhile, the Yahoo! Answers community has responded with an outpouring of creativity and brotherliness ? at the time of this post, there were more than 28,000 responses and rising fast, with people ruminating on spending the money locally versus sending the money overseas, where the effect could be greater.

Head over to the Yahoo! Answers blog for the complete story, and don't forget to leave your own answer as well.

Happy Holidays!

As you may have seen, we have been integrating knowledge from the Yahoo! Answers community into search to enhance your search experience. We recently made some changes to the way these answers are presented:

As you can see, the new section features an excerpt of the best answers to questions that are relevant to your search. The excerpt gives you a more detailed preview of the content from the Answers community before you click through. In this example for "best hybrid cars" you actually get a whole lot of information - one best answer cites the breadth of hybrids to choose from, another user mentions he's heard good things about the Prius, and another discusses the potentially lower maintenance of hybrids.

So if you're looking for personal experiences with tennis camps, finding places off the beaten path, or researching the best hybrid car, you'll now have an extra option on Yahoo! Search (scroll down the results to see them).

Try it and let us know what you think - your feedback is essential and very appreciated.

Happy Thanksgiving! (Don?t forget the pumpkin pie!)

Ya-Bing Chu
Product Manager, Yahoo! Search

It?s certainly not everyday, but sometimes we get to work with folks like Bono on special projects we hope will make a difference. Recently, a group of Yahoo! developers took some time off to work on the development of the new ONE.org site, Bono?s campaign to rally us, one by one, in the fight to end AIDS and extreme poverty. (Other times, we just enjoy getting in a few snaps around campus.)

Bono?s question to the Yahoo! community is what can we do to make poverty history?

I?m turning over the mic to Mr. Mario of the Yahoo! Answers blog, who points out that it?s not easy to think about the big questions, but though these problems seem massive, discussion leads to action:

Ending poverty on a global level is not going to be easy, but that doesn?t mean the effort shouldn?t be made at all. Bono and groups like ONE.org, are urging everyone to find ways to get the ball rolling in their own little corners of the world. Sometimes keeping the conversation going makes all the difference.

Identifying the sources of the problem may be the first step. Many cite trade regulations and corruption as key contributors to global poverty, and say that the duty to rectify these issues falls on the shoulders of established nations. The scarcity of natural resources, loss of ambition, and limited opportunity for growth also help contribute. Some believe that monetary assistance grants only help perpetuate the problem, while others examine biological and psychological theories behind the subculture of poverty.

So what can ordinary people do?

Head over to the Yahoo! Answers blog for the rest of Mario?s post, including some thoughtful solutions proposed by users. Then give it your best thought!

Tara Kirchner

On Tuesday, while most of us were enjoying the fireworks, the folks at Yahoo! Answers were busy working with Dr. Stephen Hawking ? one of the world?s leading theoretical physicists and author of the surprise best-seller A Brief History of Time, along with holding many titles, degrees, posts and accolades - to ask a question on Yahoo!

Dr. Hawking?s question to the Yahoo! community is, how can the human race survive the next hundred years?

Apparently we have a lot to say on the matter, because in the first day alone, more than 15,000 answers were posted, and people were even blogging about their responses. I wonder if they know they could get a nifty Answers badge and then their responses show up automagically...

Anyway, you may have heard about Dr. Hawking recently ? he?s been making headlines and stirring up blog chatter following a June 2006 appearance in China. Dr. Hawking discussed the need to colonize outer space as the only way for human kind to survive the next thousand years, and cited threats of nuclear technology and bioterrorism.

What?s more, Dr. Hawking is something of a pop culture phenomenon, inspiring Yahoo! Answers blog editor Mario Anima to pen this:

When I found out that Stephen Hawking was going to be asking the Answers community a question, I could hardly contain my excitement. Our weekly meetings sometimes derail into ?wouldn?t it be cool if?? sessions, and Stephen Hawking is one name that consistently surfaces during these discussions.

Aside from being one of the world?s leading theoretical physicists, Stephen Hawking has also made some popular guest appearances on television ? as a member of the Vice Presidential Action Rangers on Futurama, and as Lisa?s savior on The Simpsons.

If you haven?t checked out Answers yet, you might try reading through the many interesting responses to Dr. Hawking?s question. Or you may have begun to see some of the best of Answers in Yahoo! Search results, providing responses on all manner of topics from the profound to the mundane.

For example, as folks who know me can attest, I?ve lately been telling people about a time when I benefited from the answer to someone else?s question. A friend gave us a half a fresh abalone and I had no idea what to do with it. So I searched for fresh abalone, and there it was! A great best answer with everything I needed to know about cooking fresh abalone. Slice, tenderize, cook 20 seconds a side in a frying pan with butter and shallots. Do not overcook!

Benefiting from other people's answers via search is great, but participation is key, and you still have time to answer Dr. Hawking.

Tara Kirchner

PS ? Check back on Answers on Friday, when U2?s Bono asks his big question!

Potentially lost in all the excitement last week was an announcement about our international expansion.

For months now, many of you have been wondering when Yahoo! Answers would be available in Spanish, French, and other languages. Well.... ask and ye shall receive!

We've expanded our international presence to nine additional markets and in five new languages. In addition to our existing sites in US, UK, Canada, Australia, and India, we now have Yahoo! Answers in: Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Singapore.

In these newly launched markets, where the number of documents in the web index is simply not as large as the English-speaking markets, Yahoo! Answers is an especially powerful means of tapping into the global community to share and exchange knowledge and to change what it means to search.

Now go bust out your foreign language skills (or use the language translation feature of Yahoo! Toolbar), ask your questions and share your knowledge globally: Find out from Germans whether it's still possible to get tickets for the FIFA World Cup, get the Brazilian take on why their beloved Ronaldinho doesn't wear braces, or ask the French to find out what their recommendations are for a good mid-range Bordeaux.

As always, keep that feedback coming...

Lesley Kao
Sr. Product Manager, International Yahoo! Answers

P.S. In the meantime, Answerers of legal drinking age can help us celebrate the occasion by mixing up a cocktail we're calling, "The Best Answer" ... courtesy of one of our international Yahoo! product managers. The cocktail is lovely shade of green that matches our site and is quite delicious too!

"THE BEST ANSWER"

Ingredients:

4 parts vodka
4 parts vanilla vodka
4 parts Godiva white chocolate liqueur
2 parts heavy cream
1 part cr譥 de menthe
Dark or white chocolate

Add the vodka, vanilla vodka, white chocolate liqueur, and cream to a shaker with ice, and shake vigorously until very cold. Strain into a chilled glass. Without emptying the shaker, add cr譥 de menthe to the residue of the vodka/cream mixture and shake vigorously. Drizzle into glass; the mint will gradually sink to form a green layer at the bottom of the glass. Garnish the top with either shaved white chocolate (to mimic the Yahoo! Answers asterisk icon) or dark chocolate (to add a touch of the Yahoo! Answers Yamster mascot).

Enjoy!

I have to be honest. When Yahoo! Answers first came out, I really didn't know what to expect. Did the world need yet another place to ask questions online?

After writing Asking the Internet, I watched to see which way it would go. Now here we are six months later and Yahoo! Answers has far more of a following than I ever expected. Some of them gather in the Answerholics Anonymous group while others obsessively watch the leaderboard, hoping to climb the ranks.

This week we've been pouring more fuel on the fire...

Flash Badges

For a while now, we've offered simple cut-and-paste JavaScript badges that you can put on your own web site to, you know, show off what you know (or whish you knew). You never know when someone looking at one of your pages might know the answer to a nagging question.

We've heard from a lot of people that wanted to add a badge to their sites but didn't have the skills or access required to use them. And many sites simply don't allow third-party JavaScript. So to make life easier, we now offer Flash badges that work nearly anywhere, including TypePad, Blogger, and others. (MySpace and Yahoo! 360 support coming in a few days.) To get one of your own, start with the badge selector.

Nick recently announced the flash badge on the Yahoo! Answers blog, so you can read more of the story there.

Big Brains in New York

To celebrate the full launch of Yahoo! Answers (it's not beta anymore!), we've had a big promotion going on in New York City this week. As part of "Ask The Planet 2006", we constructed--I kid you not--a big brain in Times Square and packed it die-hard Yahoo! Answers users.

Since not all the smart people are in New York, we also have Flickr Photos and a live video feed.

Read more about it from Search Engine Watch and TechCrunch.

It wouldn't be a big bash without prizes and celebrities, right? Luckily, we've got both. Check the calendar of events to see who is involved when. You just might get to answer a question from Click and Clack (the Car Talk guys), Al Gore, or Stephen Hawking.

Jeremy Zawodny

It�s hard for us on the core product team to believe that it�s only been 2 months since we launched the beta of Yahoo! Answers. Since then, we've added many features to the site in a steady stream of improvements. So it seems like a good time to catch you up!

To refresh, Answers is a question and answer exchange that enables people to tap into the collective wisdom of a world of web users.

Here�s a few of the new features you�ll find:

Yeah, What You Said
Sometimes, a question you ask has already been answered. And sometimes, you might stumble upon a better way to ask a question. So we developed an Ajax widget that searches previously asked questions as you're typing in your question. Look below to see how it works.

Users Helping Users
Before long, people started using Answers to ask questions about Answers. So we started a Yahoo! Products section, where users respond to fellow users' questions about Answers. This worked so well, we�ve expanded the product section to include Yahoo! Mail, 360, and Messenger. Users also tell us what's on their minds in the Forum, or leave a comment on our Blog. We�re also highlighting users in a new weekly Featured User section, as well as highlighting the top 5,000 point getters on the Leaderboard.

Showing What You Know
For those bloggers and website owners, we built a Badge that can be customized and displayed on any website or blog. Grab your own toolbar button while you're there.

Oh, and now you can get an RSS feed of Q&A by search keywords, in addition to your own Q&A, other user's Q&A, and Q&A by category.

There are many more features coming soon, so come visit us at Yahoo! Answers. We look forward to hearing from you!

Yumio Saneyoshi and the Yahoo! Answers team