Search outfit asks for human help

SEARCH ENGINE OUTFIT Ask.com wants some human help for answering web surfers' questions.

The company is testing a new service that lets users ask questions to other visitors to the site and thus "tap into the powerful social networking trends".

Ask.com said that asking mortals for help is a "major shift" because it has only really used computer algorithms and it is not really sure what to do with people.

But Ask.com needs all the help it can get. It has only 3.6 percent of the US Internet search market and needs to work out a way to be different. Using humans might be a bit of a novelty. Like using bison.

Doug Leeds, president of Ask.com US told Reuters that the new "Ask the Community" feature means the company will be able to provide more answers.

The service routes questions to other Ask.com users with expertise on various subjects. Humans are better at subjective questions that try the patience of algorithms, he said.

At the moment the service is by invitation only. It seems that Ask.com is the first major search engine to use an online question-and-answer service directly in its search engine.

Leeds admitted that the new question and answer service might not provide the same immediate money-making opportunity as traditional, computer-generated web searches. But it might draw in the visits which is a little more important. µ