Ask.com Unveils New Site Focused on Answering Questions

OAKLAND, Calif., July 27 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Ask.com, the number one brand for questions and answers online and an operating business of IAC (Nasdaq: IACI), today launched a new version of Ask.com squarely focused on answering questions.  The new site is the first step in a multi-pronged strategy to deliver users answers – not just links – to all of their questions, whether from content already published across the Web, or from previously unpublished knowledge shared by any of the millions of Ask.com users.  For the first time, Ask will combine its proprietary search technology, specifically tailored to extract questions and answers from Web content, with the ability to draw on the Ask.com community to address questions for which no published answers exist.

"Ask's heritage has always been about answering  questions – in fact, more people associate Ask with answering questions than any other brand in the world," said Doug Leeds, President, Ask.com, US.  "As users continue to embrace the social Web, now is the perfect time to extend Ask's technology beyond finding pages that have answers to finding people who do as well.  With 87 million monthly users and more than a decade of Q&A experience, Ask.com is uniquely positioned to answer the long tail of questions that are impossible for search engines alone to address."

Initially available in beta by invitation only, the new Ask.com will feature an updated look and feel while integrating technology and community on the back-end to deliver a Q&A experience unlike any other site available today.  Subjective and complex questions that stymie traditional search engines because they require human understanding and insight can now be posed to the Ask user community; proprietary Q&A matching technology ensures questions are routed to the appropriate people based on interests and expertise.  For every question, Ask will deliver the best possible answer from a robust data pool of Web content and Ask member responses.

"As the Web becomes more conversational in nature, consumer expectations and the Web's ability to meet those expectations are changing rapidly.  It has become natural for people to ask questions and receive answers online, and algorithmic search alone can only take that proposition so far," said Allen Weiner, Research VP, Media Industry, Gartner Research.  "There is a huge market opportunity for companies who can get this right."  

Features of the new Ask.com include:

• Proprietary semantic search technologies: Finds the most relevant, quality answers across the Web, and displays them at the top of the page. No click-throughs required.
• The largest Q&A database on the Web: More than 500 million questions and answers indexed, and the ability to quickly extract Q&A pairs from hundreds of thousands of sources.
• Ask.com community: Leverages proprietary search categorization to route questions and solicit high-quality answers from community members based on their interests and areas of knowledge.
• New user interface: Improved UI makes it easy to ask and answer questions, highlights advancing and trending questions from the Ask community throughout the site.

"At Ask, millions of people ask us a question every single day – and the percentage of questions we get asked is four times greater than that of other search engines," said Scott Garell, President, Ask Networks.  "The evolution of our search technology, the rapid growth of the social Web and the shift in consumer search behavior are propelling Ask to the forefront of what we believe will be a multi-billion dollar Q&A category."

To request a beta invite to Ask's new community, visit: http://www.ask.com/invite

About Ask.com

Ask.com is the number one brand for questions and answers online and an operating business of IAC (NASDAQ: IACI).  The Ask Network of sites is the 6th largest Internet property in the U.S., with more than 87 million domestic unique monthly users, according to June 2010 comScore data. Ask.com also syndicates its search technology and advertising solutions to a network of affiliate partners.

SOURCE Ask.com