ChaCha launches new mobile initiative today!
In a landmark move, ChaCha announced today a new service that allows users to text questions of any kind to 242242 (ChaCha on a phone keypad) and to receive text answers on their cell phone. The answers are sent by a live person, called a ChaCha guide. The service is currently available as a free trial.
“This really changes everything,” said ChaCha CEO Scott A. Jones. “The ability to ask any question on your mobile phone at any time and receive the answer from a knowledgeable person was unheard of until now. We’re giving everyone with a text-enabled cell phone instant access to information at their fingertips. Knowledge is power, and now every mobile phone just got a lot smarter with ChaCha’s text answers service.”
The convenience of ChaCha’s new mobile answers service is unparalleled because it offers answers that people can’t easily find otherwise when they have questions on the go. To get a brief answer to any question from your cell phone, simply text your question to 242242 as if messaging a friend. Because the questions are being answered by skilled people who are trained to use ChaCha’s powerful internal search tools, questions can be asked as if you are posing them to a friend – even with typical text slang – and ChaCha will provide accurate answers quickly.
With ChaCha, users don’t have to remember any special formatting or rules. For example, you could ask, “I’m at the corner of 42nd & Broadway in New York City. Where can I get a cup of coffee?” Or even “Where can I get some great sushi in Palo Alto, CA?” Text shortcuts, misspellings and slang can easily be understood by a human.
“What I find interesting about ChaCha’s cell phone service is it helps you use the power of the Web even though you don’t have an expensive smartphone,” said Rob Enderle, Principal Analyst for the Enderle Group. “This isn’t about getting people to buy an expensive phone and service; it’s about making any phone, from the smartest to the simplest, more useful.”
With ChaCha, users can ask questions on a variety of topics, including:
Dynamic information – sports scores, movie times, airline delays, weather, etc.
Local information – cheapest gas, shopping, recycling, pharmacy locations and more
Current events – business news updates, stock updates, world news, etc.
General information – names and phone numbers for local businesses and residences
Trivia — movie quotes, song lyrics, celebrity gossip and more
“Now that the world’s biggest community of real-time guides and our powerful technology platform are in place, we have put our technology to use in the mobile device,” Jones said. “On the cell phone, users can benefit tremendously from the assistance of another knowledgeable human who can do research for them – especially when they don’t have the resources, such as a computer, to do the research on their own. ChaCha is here to help when help is needed.”
ChaCha was rated the No. 1 Alternative Search Engine of 2006 by Charles Knight, currently of AltSearchEngines.com, a Read/Write Web network blog, winner of the TechPoint 2007 Mira Award for best IT Innovation and a winner of the 2007 CNET Webware 100 Awards.
August 13th, 2008 at 4:00 pm
ChaCha is a great company to work for and I wanted to tell you about http://www.myccguide.com They are an unofficial forum dedicated only to chacha and there are tons of resources and help there. You can talk to other guides learn tips and tricks to work better and faster and complete FAQs for almost everything ChaCha! Plus you dont have to deal with the pressure of the official forums. Feel free to check us out and tell your friends about it. Its a perferct place for anyone looking to start with chacha to come too. We have everything the need there to help them get started from the first intial application and throughout their job if they are hired!