If You Have ChaCha and a Cellphone, You Have Answers
If you’re sitting in front of a computer, it’s easy to look up information on the Web. It’s almost as easy if you have a sophisticated cellphone with a decent Web browser and you’re in a place with a good Internet connection where it’s possible to type.
But what if you only have a standard cellphone with a lousy Web browser — or even the best Web-browsing phone, but it lacks a fast data connection? What if you’re speeding down the road in a car, where typing is dangerous?
Now, there’s a way to get your questions answered despite those hurdles. It’s a free cellphone service that lets you ask any question answerable via a Web search, using any cellphone, by simply making a voice call. It’s called ChaCha, and I’ve been testing it out.
To use ChaCha, you just dial 800-2chacha (800-224-2242) and state your question. In a few minutes, you’ll get an answer via text message. In one test, I asked ChaCha who was the winning pitcher in the previous night’s Red Sox victory against the Yankees. In a few minutes, I received a text message with the correct answer: Daisuke Matsuzaka.
ChaCha requires no registration and works on any cellphone carrier. It needs no special codes or key words. You just state your question as if you were asking a friend. If you prefer to type your question, you can text it to “ChaCha,” or 242242. Though ChaCha itself charges no fees, your phone carrier may charge for the minutes you use, or for the text messages.
The service works by routing your questions to one of 10,000 hired “guides” — students, stay-at-home parents, retirees and others — who look up the questions on the Web and reply. They get paid 20 cents per answer.
Naturally, these guides vary as to their speed and accuracy. If you don’t like the answers they give you, or you want related information, you can call back or reply to the text message with a follow-up question. For instance, after learning which pitcher had won for Boston, I asked who lost the game for New York. I was quickly informed it was Phil Hughes.
Overall, I liked ChaCha. In most cases, I received fast, accurate, useful answers. But it has two weaknesses. One is that the low-paid, part-time guides can provide inconsistent service. When I asked for the best Mexican restaurant in D.C., for example, ChaCha came up with a choice that few locals would cite.
The other is that, unlike many other cellphone information services, ChaCha doesn’t automatically know your location. So, unless you include a location in your query, it’s clueless about questions such as “Where’s the nearest drugstore?”
ChaCha is hardly the only information service for cellphones. Google offers a text-message service where you can ask questions on a wide variety of topics, and a voice-based service that locates businesses near your location. Microsoft’s TellMe subsidiary just introduced a voice-based service that answers location-specific questions about businesses, weather, traffic and movies, and displays the answers on the screens of BlackBerrys.
But these competitors are more limited than ChaCha in key respects. Google’s broader mobile-search service, Google SMS, requires that questions be sent via text message using special key words. Its voice service, Goog411, finds only local businesses. TellMe’s new service is limited to location-based information and works only on certain phones.
I tested ChaCha using three very different phones: a cheap, bare-bones Samsung flip phone from Sprint; a midrange Motorola Razr from Verizon; and an Apple iPhone running on AT&T. I asked questions via voice and text from various locations, including my car, where I used a hands-free microphone.
I asked about sports, TV shows, journalism, history, weather, nutrition, demographics and shopping. ChaCha handled most of these inquiries correctly and was able to fix most of its errors after I asked follow-up questions. For each question, it sends two text messages: one restating your query and saying it’s working on it, and the second containing the answer.
Each ChaCha answer is accompanied by a Web link. If your phone has a decent browser, you can go to that link to learn who the guide was, and what his or her Web-site source was.
ChaCha gave me the weekend weather forecast in Boston, the date of death of Abigail Adams and the cast of the TV show “Brothers & Sisters.” It provided Peyton Manning’s salary and the sodium content of a McDonald’s quarter pounder. Its most impressive performance came when it correctly answered an obscure historical question: “When was the Gaspee burned?” The Gaspee was a British tax-collection ship burned in Rhode Island in 1772 in what is often considered the first act of war of the American Revolution.
The company is working on adding automated location knowledge, at least on certain carriers and phones. For now, you can tell it your location by sending a special command via text message. But even without the location features, ChaCha is a fun and useful service.
Find all of Walt Mossberg’s columns and videos online, free, at the new All Things Digital Web site, http://walt.allthingsd.com. Email him at mossberg@wsj.com.
Corrections & Amplifications
ChaCha, a mobile-phone search service, is incompatible with several small U.S. cellphone carriers. This column incorrectly said that the service works on any cellphone carrier, based on incorrect information supplied by the company.
Comments
As a user of ChaCha’s service as well as a Guide, I’ve had the opportunity to see both ’sides’ of their product. They’ve done an excellent job at making everything as easy to use as possible. The answers I’ve received through the service have been very accurate and speedy. One great example - getting flight arrival information as you’re waiting for someone at the airport. On the other side of the coin, responding to people’s queries in real time is a lot of fun and rewarding on a few different levels. Great product!
Posted by Mark Cramer at April 24th, 2008 at 10:08 amIf chacha is paying live researchers and the service is free, how do they cover expenses? Is it a Google type advertising model?
Posted by mo mohan at April 24th, 2008 at 1:02 pmHello. This is nothing new in the universe. There has always been a way to use your phone to get answers. It’s called your public library. Program their number into your cell phone and you are good to go. And you’ll be getting your answers from professionals rather than some unknown person earning 20 cents per question.
Posted by Mark Wright at April 24th, 2008 at 1:23 pmAre you kidding? Librarians have been offering this service for decades and doing it with accuracy and speed. They have training and experience with a variety of print and electronic resources and many know the hidden Web resources to check for the truly hard-to-find.
Posted by Dean Corner at April 24th, 2008 at 1:25 pmIf you live in an urban or suburban community and haven’t contacted a public or university library for information retrieval, you’re wasting your time with “volunteers” masquarading as information specialists.
If you have a phone, you’ve had a way to get answers all along, from qualified researchers, rather than unknown individuals working for $.20 per answer.
Call your local public library. The librarians there are information professionals, and will find you the right answer.
Don’t know where to reach your public library? Look it up at http://www.publiclibraries.com.
Posted by Andrea Johnson at April 24th, 2008 at 2:12 pmI’d like to second the request to find out where they get the 20 cents per answer.
My first thought was, am I forming a business relationship so the Do-Not-Call List doesn’t apply, or are they generating a giant proven live list of phone numbers and/or e-mail addresses? It’s hard not to be cynical.
Or maybe I should just call ChaCha.
D
Posted by Dennis Carachiola at April 25th, 2008 at 1:20 pmIt should also be mentioned that many libraries also offer reference service via Instant Messenger, making it simple (via AIM’s SMS protocol) to compose their response as an SMS message. Expert advice and convenience, all at once.
Posted by Toby Greenwalt at April 25th, 2008 at 6:39 pmYes, librarians are def. offering reference via IM, SMS, the Meebome widget, etc. I coordinate a state wide project that offers 24/7/365 reference service. It’s really great a service like ChaCha exists, but I prefer librarians with their cache of databases, etc.
Posted by Natalie Tagge at April 28th, 2008 at 12:50 pmWell, I found out how they make their money. You agree to waive your do-not-call rights in exchange for asking your question.
I went to the ChaCha web site and found this:
“When you visit the Site, use the Services, or contact ChaCha by other means, you consent to receive communications from ChaCha.ChaCha may contact you electronically or by other means ChaCha chooses, and ChaCha may contact you at any place that ChaCha may locate you.You agree that all agreements, notices, disclosures, and other communications that ChaCha provides to you via text message, email, or other form of electronic communication shall satisfy any legal requirement that such communications be in writing.”
They continue:
“The CAN-SPAM act, state and federal Do-Not-Call registries, and the Telephone Consumer Privacy Act of 1991 exist to prevent unsolicited telemarketing calls and the use of automatic dialing machines to call wireless devices, not to prevent such calls to persons who have requested to be contacted. Under Federal rules and those of most states, “safe harbors” exist to allow a consumer to expressly grant permission to be contacted even though they have registered their phone number with a state or federal Do-Not-Call registry. By accepting these Terms and submitting a query or request to ChaCha via voice, text, or internet, you expressly agree that we may send a response to your queries to your wireless device or email via an SMS text message or email or WAP Push Message or MMS message. You are granting express permission to receive our response even if you are registered on a Do-Not-Call registry.”
Here’s the important part:
“You expressly agree that, as part of the Services provided by ChaCha, you may receive promotional communications, alerts, and **third party advertising materials** from ChaCha via text message. You may stop receiving such text messages by emailing your request to opt-out, along with your wireless telephone number, to chacha_help@chacha.com, or following any opt-out instructions in the relevant text message.” (emphasis mine)
You can’t say they didn’t warn you. But a mention in the main article that you are consenting to be contacted by telemarketers would have been nice.
Dennis
Posted by Dennis Carachiola at May 1st, 2008 at 12:19 pmYahoo Local I find very useful as a guide to local places, things to do, where to eat, local maps, et cetara, especially when I’m travelling. I really have no opinion on chacha. Why reinvent the wheel?
Posted by rod sandcones at May 1st, 2008 at 1:53 pmI asked ChaCha last night via text message the joke/question on a popsicle stick and when the guide responded they gave the incorrect answer.
I replied (I love that feature) and told them the correct answer (after my cousin finished his popsicle) and the guide said that they were building a database of jokes and riddles.
Posted by Max Leepson at May 5th, 2008 at 7:34 amreally ? ? ? Library? ? ? I’m Still waiting for the lackeys in CPLS to call me back . . i wanted to find out how the bulls did in the playoffs while i was out of town in 1997.LOLL
Posted by stani everett at May 19th, 2008 at 6:37 pm