Texting experts for an Internet search
A new search company isn't using algorithms to find answers on the Internet -- it's using humans instead. Text in a question and someone will text you right back. Dan Grech checks it out.
ChaCha guide Diana Braun works out of a Panera Bread in Fort Lauderdale using free Wifi. (Dan Grech)
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Links
- The ChaCha Web site
The ChaCha Web site
TEXT OF STORY
Kai Ryssdal: The latest search engine rankings from Neilsen Online confirm what most of us already knew: Google leads the pack going away. It owns almost two thirds of the eight billion online queries that're made every day in this country. That's on the computer, though. What about searches on a different, but perhaps more common, electronic device. One that most of us carry in our pockets. Search by cell phone is a different game. The screens are small, the keypads are cumbersome and users are usually in a bit of a hurry. But there is still a business model for it. As Marketplace's Dan Grech reports.
Dan Grech: Say you're at a dinner party and the conversation turns to auction-rate securities. You could nod knowingly and keep your mouth shut. Or you could duck into the bathroom and call or text ChaCha. Within minutes, you'd be tossing around terms like nominal maturity and tax-exempt bonds. Brad Bostic is co-founder of ChaCha.
Brad Bostic: It's like having a smart friend available through your cell phone that can answer any question for you 24 hours a day, on any topic.
Diana Braun is one of those smart friends, or guides. ChaCha employs 20,000 Diana's around the country. They take questions and text back answers -- at no charge.
Diana Braun: So here I got my first question: Cleveland or Pittsburgh, which is a better city?
[Sound of Diana typing on a computer] She consults her favorite research tool. That would be Google. Fifty-two seconds later, she's got an answer.
Braun: I think I'm gonna have to go with Cleveland on this one. I'll give 'em a couple of reasons why.
She texts back, "Visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and enjoy the lakeside views." Diane gets paid 20 cents for every question she answers. And they're not all that easy.
Braun: I need a quick money-making venture. Any ideas? Is today a good day to take off my shirt? When is the Lord coming back? Hmm. This is a toughie.
ChaCha attracts its share of textaholics who bombard the service with goofball queries. But it's not all fun and games. Greg Sterling's an editor at SearchEngineLand.com. He says ChaCha provides a service of real value.
Greg Sterling: The human intelligence piece of this is like directory assistance on steroids.
He says people on their cell phone are on the go. They don't want to wade through search results. They want answers.
Sterling Let's take, for example, a plasma TV. You go into a particular store, they've sold out of it. Who else has it within a reasonable driving distance? Somebody who is ready to buy a product like that is really susceptible to sale information. That's the concept: right time, right ad, right place.
ChaCha's Bostic says the plan is for guides to act as personal assistants directing people to restaurants, movie theaters, stores.
Bostic: That generates a revenue stream to our company. Instead of getting pennies, like a search engine might, we get dollars, because it's creating a very efficient exchange.
ChaCha is also looking at ways to target users with ads. The company hopes to turn a profit by the middle of next year. In the meantime, ChaCha is building an extensive database of questions and answers. 100,000 questions pour in each day. Mark Malseed is Dean of Search University, ChaCha's training site for guides. He says eventually, guides won't have to rely on Google.
Mark Malseed: One of the things we are trying to do is collect these real gem answers and when possible, we'll use them again, creating our own library of information snippets.
That database could provide insight into user's habits, something advertisers love. And it could make things easier for guides like Diana Braun when they have question of their own.
Braun: All right, so the question I'm sending ChaCha is, "I am a ChaCha guide. Why do I get so many Chuck Norris joke questions?"
She says she gets five to 10 Chuck Norris queries every night.
Braun: So the answer is, "It might be because he's always on late night TV, and it's easy to make up corny jokes about him.
Another great mystery solved.
I'm Dan Grech for Marketplace.
Comments
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07/22/2009
I thought Cha Cha was cool until I reently asked thequestion of how did Lynchburg Virginia get its name.Their response was correct, John Lynch law. Ok, so, then I asked what John Lynch law was and, they started doing a survey and getting really personal. They had asked me 5 questions and I told them I was not comfortable giving them such personal information that narrowed someone down to a geographical area. I cn go online and let the government do that! The person told me to "Just go with the flow and answer the question!" What? Are you kidding me!. When I said no they did not give me the answer. I have used Cha Cha for many other questions before and that was the first time they ever did a survey that much in detail! Never again.
10/04/2008
The system is broken, the answers are always wrong and there is no verification process.
After running test texts ( 15 of them) 11 were WRONG, and 4 were blatant w/ I am sorry I don't understand your question. Which is an accurate answer for the guides quality control, yet doesn't answer the question. And the majority of guides have figured out that loophole and ride the ten cent pony home.
From Middlesex, NC, 09/16/2008
ChaCha looks to be a great opportunity for those of us who are stay at home parents. Until you open the cover of the book. Once inside, you will find that employees or contractors are not encouraged to speak their mind, if they do speak their mind, questioning things that are happening, they are suspended quite quickly with their earnings held for 45-60 days while ChaCha searches for fraudulent searches. ChaCha's idea of a fraudulent search is when someone wants to know, "Who is Bobby going to date this week?". Your answer? Our Magic 8 Ball can't see the future. DING! Fraudulent search!
Communication is non-existent, unless they want you to hear something. Send feedback to HQ, and you will never receive an answer. Attempt to call listed office numbers for ChaCha, and you find answering machines or bogus numbers for marketing companies that no longer work with ChaCha.
Add to this, that the rules are constantly changing about top guides, bonuses and more, and ChaCha Ching becomes ChaCha Garbarge.
Now, today was pay day for ChaCha'ers. Guess what? I stepped on the magic don't piss me off button, and now I have another 60 days to wait for my money that I worked for, when I have already waited 60 days.
BBB Online anyone?
From New york, NY, 09/12/2008
ChaCha is ridiculous- they are not paying guides-meaning that you either wait weeks or months for them to set up your payment account, while you are basically working for free, or there is no "button" that allows you to get paid because the software is such crap!!!!
From Munster, IN, 08/25/2008
Cha-Cha sounds like GIGO (garbage in garbage out) It is entertaining but can anyone claim it is useful, helpful or knowledge? Maybe Cha-Cha should look up expert in the dictionary and pay people accordingly.
From carmel, IN, 08/24/2008
You can contact chacha by going to their web site chacha.com.
I used to be a guide then quit when the .10/search went into effect. At .20 it was about $4/hr due to their flaky software which bombed during high capacity. I was a good guide, college grad, internet savvy. I was going to stop doing ChaCha after I got to $100 anyway because it was just too little pay. Now at .10 it is absurd. Not sure who they can keep at those wages.
Good luck to them, but I think it was a big mistake on their part.
From Midland, TX, 08/24/2008
I decided to put ChaCha to the test. I sent 5 random questions that I knew the answer to--and out of the 5 only 1 came back correct. I asked for a phone number on one question, giving the person's name and city/state and got the weather! On another I asked for the ingredients to a common mixed cocktail. The ONLY one that came back correct was "Are whales mammals or fish?" This is a sad commentary--but for 10 cents an answer for the workers, what can you expect? I wouldn't work for slave wages.
08/24/2008
ChaCha has managed to bamboozle their guides and cut their pay for no reason. The reason is simply they paid minimal amount to build the "human search engine", and than while they perfect the automated system, humans will cease to be a part of the business model.
From Orlando, FL, 08/23/2008
I have a few friends who work as guides for ChaCha and they raved about it. I checked out the site and became a guide for ChaCha. Thats when they were paying 20 cents a question. The week after starting they changed their pay rates and now I only get 10 cents a question! The only way you get the 20 cents is if you answer 300 questions a week with a certain amount of accuracy. That means at least 2 or 3 hours a day on line to meet my quota so that I can get the money I was told about when I was hired. Each week they list the top guides and they normally have about 2500 questions answered a week! This must be their only job because I do not have time to sit and answer that many questions.
I feel bad that the minute I join, they change things and I am reconsidering being a guide. They want to be successful but the only way to do that is to take care of your employees first... but they seemed to have dropped the ball on that! Thanks for nothing ChaCha!
08/22/2008
ChaCha is beginning to lose their "Real Top Guides" quickly. With this new "Pay Per Performance" going into effect, a lot of people that work HARD for ChaCha are getting shafted on their pay. 10c per query, 2 min per question. That's 3.00 an hour at best. And to top it all off, they think it's going to help the accuracy, when I have seen people giving mean answers on purpose because of their outrage. Like this one for Example: Q: How many medals have USA won? A: Go Google it yourself!!! Hmm, making quality better? I think not. It's causing a big commotion, when the accuracy was just fine before they implemented this new pay structure. I have been a Top Guide many times,(Until the new system came into effect), and have been a Guide for ChaCha from the very beginning. Yes it is a new company, but that is NO excuse for ruining a perfectly good idea. ChaCha needs to state clearly what we mess up on, RIGHT THEN. Not when your pay gets cut and then you get "Oh, so sad... you didn't make the cut.. too bad! Work for 10 cents like a slave and like it!" That's what I get from it, personally..
From springfield, MO, 08/22/2008
Quote from: Matt McAdam
"According to the story, ChaCha receives about 100k questions a day, has 20k employees, who make 20 cents per question. So, assuming everyone gets paid, employees make $1 a day at ChaCha. Did I miss something?"
They actually make 10ยข per search unless they achieve Top Guide status. Which means over 200 searches per week and 95% quality.
What is 95% quality? We don't know. They introduced this pay cut on Aug 4, and we are still not allowed access to a quality report or a definitive quality measurement of any kind. Either your names shows up each week on the Top Guide list, or it doesn't. And your pay promptly changes with this 'rating'. No evidence or proof of errors/success is given to back it up.
That is why so many guides are leaving. And THAT is the real story.
Anyone care to investigate?
From Tulsa, OK, 08/22/2008
Virtually every person in America has access to a free service staffed by professional researchers whose job is to answer questions all day.
Your public library has a phone number, and there's a good chance they have e-mail, IM, text, and various other gateways to their service. More importantly, librarians are trained to give authoritative answers backed up by sound research. An untrained "guide" sitting in Panera and using Google is just no substitute.
I can see that there's a fun factor in using Cha Cha, but for real answers, I'll stick to the professionals, thanks.
From Niles, IL, 08/22/2008
no
From Bismarck, ND, 08/22/2008
People can ask ChaCha questions by texting 242 242, which spells ChaCha on most phones. I love using this service to find out the weather report or when a movie starts, or for a quick joke!
08/22/2008
Guides are NOT paid .20 a search. Guides are paid .10 a search. To be paid .20 a search a quota must be met against standards no one can see, and there is a 3 week waiting period before knowing if you met that standard. ChaCha does NOT answer Guide questions or Guide inquires made to Human Resources or to Personnel, and definitely no response is ever received from ChaCha Payroll/Accounting regarding any question a Guide may have. The ChaCha Guides Forums are monitored and posts are removed without explanation if the subject discussed deemed not ChaCha appropriate, or if it is too truthful. Brad Bostic would do well to disguise himself as a Guide and work for himself a bit to see what really goes on behind the scenes of his company. He may be able to pull it all together then...information is what it's all about.
08/22/2008
You need to contact ChaCha and find out why they are cutting the guides salary in half. Alot of guides have left because ChaCha refuses to give the guides any explanation on any of their questions they ask HQ. HQ will not return calls or emails. What kind of comapny is this that treats their guides, (those that the company depends on) like this? They are awful, the majority of the time questions do not get answered or if they do, their not even correct. They are a JOKE!!
From Northampton, MA, 08/21/2008
ChaCha "Guides" make .20 per question at the most. At 3 minutes per question, that's $4/hour. Before taxes.
From Baltimore, MD, 08/21/2008
According to the story, ChaCha receives about 100k questions a day, has 20k employees, who make 20 cents per question. So, assuming everyone gets paid, employees make $1 a day at ChaCha. Did I miss something?
08/21/2008
I agree with Marsha - more details would be good. You state that ChaCha is making dollars instead of pennies for each search..who's paying? Also, does ChaCha have any competitors?
From warren, PA, 08/21/2008
i won't be contacting cha-cha. they couldn't even get an "easy" question correct by stating that cleveland is a better city than pittsburgh. some person checking google can't see the whole picture. trust me, pittsburgh is the clear winner.
From brooklyn, NY, 08/21/2008
I wish you would provide more specific details in stories that you present. For example, how does one contact Cha-Cha? Thanks.
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