Yahoo Answers is Popular

by Jason Hahn

Among Yahoo!’s many products and services, Yahoo! Answers is undoubtedly one of its best, and users around the globe seem to be riding the wave. SEO Manager for Marchex and blogger at SmallBusinessSEM.com, Matt McGee, highlights the service’s growth both in the U.S. and worldwide.

From August 2007 to March 2008, Yahoo! Answers gained 4 million users in the U.S., and 40 million users worldwide, bringing the total audience numbers to 25 million and 135 million, respectively. The site also added 77 million answers in the U.S., bringing the total to 237 million, and added 150 million answers worldwide, bringing that total to 500 million.

Meanwhile, an article posted at ScienceDaily sheds some light on the details behind these huge numbers, referring to a study titled “Knowledge sharing and Yahoo Answers: Everybody knows something.” Assistant professor at the University of Michigan School of Information, Lada Adamic, along with Mark Ackerman and other collaborators, analyzed one month of activity on Yahoo! Answers and found the following information:

1.2 million questions were asked by 495,414 people
8.5 million answers were posted by 433,402 people
211,372 people asked and answered
While most users participated in one or two questions, some participated in hundreds

The group also pegged the number of users at 23 million, slightly off from the 25 million quoted by McGee.

The site was found to be primarily used for exchanging advice and opinions, and for sharing technical know-how.

The study also detailed the nuances that characterize different categories of questions. Math and science questions, for example, appeared to come mostly from high school students looking for answers to their homework.

Adamic also noted that askers preferred longer answers, regardless of the category.

Sources:
http://www.webpronews.com/topnews/2008/04/28/
yahoo-answers-unquestionably-successful

http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/
yahoo-answers-11-million-answers-per-month/1147/

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080425123351.htm

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