14 DAY TRIAL // Aardvark, the social questions and answers site, has released a new feature, making it even more convenient to use the service by allowing users to ask a question through their Twitter accounts. For now, directing a question to @vark will add it to your account but the answers will still come in the usual fashion. A little over a week ago the site added Facebook integration and this latest move provides it with an even better foothold in social networking.
“We’ve added Twitter integration as part of our broader strategy to make Aardvark available everywhere, through all existing digital communication channels: Instant Messaging through Gchat/AIM/ MSN and email are available already (with more IM networks right around the corner), and a few exciting mobile channels are currently in testing,” the announcement on the Aardvark blog reads. “Aardvark fits right inside existing communication channels as a contact, so sending Aardvark a question is as simple as sending a question to a friend.”
While Aardvark may seem similar to the multitude of questions and answers sites today, the biggest difference is that the answers come from your friends or the people they know, making them much more reliable. The service woks by allowing users to ask a question through IM, email, SMS and now Twitter, which then gets passed to one or more of your contacts that are more likely to provide an accurate answer. The drawback is that, for the best experience, your friends have to be using the service too, to provide additional information on their expertise or the likes. This allows Aardvark to target those who are more likely to know the answer or share similar tastes in order to provide better results.
Recently the site added Facebook integration, which would allow users to connect to their extended social network (their friends and the friends of friends), which could potentially mean thousands of people. Plans to integrate other social networks are on their way.