Ask.com unveils community led search feature

As part of a continued overhaul that's gradually been taking shape over the past few years, search engine Ask.com have launched their latest feature which aims to add a social element to everyday search.

Unveiling a public beta version of its question-and-answer model, Ask.com now allows users to pose questions to a community of 87 million monthly users in a bid to answer queries whose complex, subjective or time sensitive nature poses a problem for computers.

Ask.com plans to route questions to the right people based on their interests and expertise which they hope will reduce the risk of spam and question fatigue.

Speaking via the official Ask.com blog, Tony Gentile and Lisa Kavanaugh – SVPs of Product and Technology respectively – explained their new take on search:

“Ask.com is now uniquely able to offer the most comprehensive and convenient approach to getting answers, combining pages and people to help users find the answers to all questions – even questions for which no answer is published online.

“From a product perspective, the new Ask.com is designed to fill some major holes left by search engines through a blend of technology and the strongest asset we have – our users.”

Aside from the new Q&A feature, Ask.com also released a new look and feel that includes access to trending topics and the day's most popular questions; all of which is hoped to “make it abundantly clear we [Ask.com] are razor-focused on empowering our users to ask and answer questions.”

Currently lagging in fourth place in the search engine stakes behind the likes of Google and Yahoo, critics believe Ask.com's rebranding could be a means to differentiate themselves from the rest of the market; similar to Bing's 'decision engine' slant.

Ask.com is now calling on web users to get involved with the service via an 'invite' system that is currently staggering the number of people who can sign-up to the community.