It also releases its API to developers

Feb 16, 2010 06:43 GMT  ·  By

Ever since it was launched, in 2007, ChaCha has stirred the attention of audiences worldwide for being an innovative human-operated search engine. After having shown that the platform is easily adaptable, with the launch of an iPhone App and the support of Twitter integration via @chacha, the release of a ChaCha Facebook app was bound to create some more buzz around it. This service has always been about simplicity and speed: people send their questions using a standard Search box, and they receive a relevant reply as soon as possible from a real person who is in charge with finding the correct answer, or from another user.

Similarly, the new Facebook tool will offer users the possibility to ask questions to all their connected buddies, and at the same time the inquiry will also be sent to the ChaCha servers. While the appropriate answer is retrieved from the huge ChaCha database, users can choose to add a designated button on their profile, thus inserting a permanent 'Ask ChaCha' prompt.

Furthermore, users will also be able to post their Q&A on the Facebook walls of the friends they prefer. To make things more interesting, the newly-launched application will also reward people with points when they answer correctly, which will get them various positions on a leader board.

On the other hand, ChaCha has also introduced its API (application programming interface), thus encouraging developers to make use of its database of questions and answers. The package comes in three flavors, each meant for a specific role: Quick ChaCha Answer (a specific inquiry will return a specific reply), Top ChaCha Answers (general keywords or topics will get a list with the most common answers) and the ChaCha Trends (the API can be used to find out what the world is generally asking about).

Overall, the service has evolved a lot since it merely used persons to perform Google searches and it has become most famous for its mobile version where users could ask questions via SMS (it seems that ChaCha is currently dealing with one million inquiries every day using the SMS service). All that is left to say is that, until now, ChaCha has constantly surprised users all over the world with its ever-growing popularity and has even started to become a profitable business, so it certainly has more aces down the sleeve that will help it claim the position of a leading search engine.