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Yahoo! Introduces Yahoo! Answers Beta, a Service That Enables People to Tap into the Collective Intelligence of Web Users to Provide Answers to Everyday Questions

Posted on: Thursday, 8 December 2005, 09:00 CST

New Service Complements Web Search by Enabling Consumers to Ask Questions Using Natural Language Instead of Keywords, and Receive Answers Directly from Other Internet Users

Yahoo! Inc., (NASDAQ:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today launched Yahoo! Answers beta, a free service where people can ask questions and get answers from real people on any topic. Yahoo! Answers beta complements Web Search by adding a human element that allows users to ask straightforward questions and receive specific answers based on the collective knowledge and experience of the community. Yahoo! Answers beta is available beginning today at http://answers.yahoo.com.

Yahoo! Answers builds on Yahoo! Search's vision to help web users find, use, share and expand all human knowledge. Through using Yahoo! Answers, consumers can more easily share their knowledge, personal experiences and opinions with their community to resolve everyday questions not answered by keyword searches. By archiving and categorizing users' questions and answers by topic, and making it searchable, users will be able to quickly tap into the repository of rich knowledge from the community. Moreover, users can keep up with the latest questions and answers on their favorite topics on their My Yahoo! page or any other RSS reader.

"At Yahoo!, we are huge believers in the power of community," said Ofer Shaked, director of engineering at Yahoo! Search. "With the largest base of Web users, Yahoo! is in a unique position to tap into the vast knowledge and opinions of individuals to benefit the greater group. Yahoo! Answers lets consumers get their questions answered in a personalized way and share their knowledge with other Web users."

The Yahoo! Answers community determines the respective reputation of members who deliver the most trusted, valuable and relevant information. Yahoo! Answers users vote on the best answer to their question and users who are regularly voted as delivering the best answers can build their reputation over time as a trusted source for information on specific topics.

About Yahoo!

Yahoo! Inc. is a leading global Internet brand and one of the most trafficked Internet destinations worldwide. Yahoo! seeks to provide online products and services essential to users' lives, and offers a full range of tools and marketing solutions for businesses to connect with Internet users around the world. Yahoo! is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California.

Source: Business Wire

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