Apr 4, 2011 14:42 GMT  ·  By

Back in 2008 Microsoft launched a new initiative designed to provide a channel of communication enabling questions to be sent directly to the company.

Designed to bridge users with Microsoft Employees and a community of the software giant’s MVPs as well as technical users, Microsoft Answers has grown tremendously in just a few years.

According to statistics from the software giant, Microsoft Answer now provides, well, answers to over half a million questions each day.

Consumers can engage directly with Microsoft support engineers and technical enthusiasts, and this is the direction in which the software giant wants the site to evolve, focusing on the power of the community that was formed around it.

“We see Microsoft Answers as less of a support site and more of a community supported by users and experts, only some of whom happen to work at Microsoft,” revealed Barbara Winter, senior program manager for Microsoft Answers.

“We're really trying to connect peers and enthusiasts and experts in a way that encourages users to own their experience and see each other as resources.”

In February 2011 I told you that the Redmond company had overhauled Microsoft Answers.

The software giant underlined that revamping the site had as core purpose the need to make it easier for approximately 500,000 unique visitors per day to find answers to their questions.

“For Microsoft, it really is an important point that we drive a connection with consumers,” noted Florian Eichinger, regional program manager for Microsoft Community Support.

“We still have a long way to go, but it’s a lot easier now that we have this resource for someone to find thousands or tens of thousands of answers to his questions for using any kind of PC.”