Askville.com: Amazon`s Answer to Social Networking
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Sometimes a new social networking site isn’t noticed for months after it’s launched, even if it’s Amazon that does the launching. There were a few stories when the online retailer launched Askville.com in early December of last year; a few more came out recently. Why is this site worth looking at?
Community sites keep your users returning again and again. That’s why so many sites have forums. When community members can find help with their questions, they’ll keep coming back when they have problems. It’s human nature to want to help others solve their problems if you can, which is another reason that forums are so popular.
Askville is based on that premise. Like Google Answers (before it was shut down) and Yahoo Answers, users ask questions of members of the community, and receive answers. Each question is limited to five answers – and in an interesting twist, the answers are not shown until all five are given, so that one won’t influence the rest (compare Yahoo Answers, which shows each answer as soon as it’s posted).
After you have answered a question, and all five answers appear, you can vote on them. Answerers are awarded points based on the quality of their answer, judged by the one who asked and others who answered the question. These points accumulate, and users can gain levels in the topics on which they answer questions.
In addition to that reward for participating, you get something called quest coins based on the number of questions you answer and the quality of your answers. You can’t do anything with the coins yet, but sometime this year there is supposed to be another site launching, called Questville, which will give you things to do with those coins.
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