Tag Archives: ChaCha
ChaCha and Indiana University Collaborating On Search Project
Search engine, ChaCha and Big 10 Univesity, Indiana are collaborating to create a reference desk to connect students with search experts. Indiana University students and faculty will have access to resources provided by IU’s librarians and info-tech staff via ChaCha.
“We’re experimenting with some of the cool things we can do when we apply human intelligence to all that’s the best of the university’s Internet,” stated Scott Jones, a ChaCha co-founder and IU alumni (class of 1984). Founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos invested $6 million in ChaCha in January 2007.
ChaCha utilizes two types of search: instant and live guided. Instant search works just like a Google or Yahoo! where relevant web sites end up at the top of the search result pages. Live guided is the more innovative type of search created by Chacha where a real person (guide) will chat with you and understand what exactly you are looking for. ChaCha currently has about 30,000 guides.
Categories ChaCha, Indiana University
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ChaCha Raises $6M from Jeff Bezos and Other Individuals
Recently, the New York Times had published an article entitled, ‘In Silicon Valley, the Race is On to Trump Google.’ One of the search engines mentioned includes ‘People Powered Search,’ ChaCha Search. Scott Jones and Brad Bostic created ChaCha based on their lack of satisfaction with other search engines that produce irrelevant search results.
ChaCha’s homepage is slightly similar to Google’s homepage when Google first came out, but the unique feature that ChaCha has is its ‘Search with Guide’ feature. When searching with a Guide, the keywords that you choose to search for are sent to real people who are quick at finding relevant information on the Internet, so that it finds the right pages that you want. When searching for certain questions, Guides that are presently logged on are alerted and the Guide will start searching for the information as long as it is not profane, is specific, and gibberish is not written. There is a chatroom where you can speak with the Guide. Guides are paid directly with their performance.
To test out the Guide search, I wrote the question “What is spam made of?” and a Guide by the name of MelissaB answered the question in the form of relevant search results within 30 seconds. Below is the screen shot of the results. The very first search result answered my question accurately. I am now a satisfied user of ChaCha and can see the service going far.
By the development of this new form of search that involves direct communication with Internet search experts gave enough of a reason for ChaCha to raise a $6 million round of investment from Jeff Bezos and other individuals [Source: GigaOM]. Jeff Bezos is the founder of Amazon.com and Bezos Expeditions. Bezos Expeditions has also previously invested in 37signals.
Categories ChaCha
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