Online service to try: Aardvark

While the idea of asking subjective questions on the internet is nothing new, the implementation of these services up to now was not always very good. I recently came across Aardvark which is a remarkably good social search service. The basic premise is that Aardvark answers questions you ask by contacting people who believe they know answers within specific fields. While we are all very used to just asking questions using Google, Aardvark gives a more subjective, timely approach which Google cant match all to easily.

When signing up, Aardvark asks you to choose three areas which you believe you have some knowledge. When other users tag a question category in which you specialize, you will be asked to answer. The service integrates with a variety of online social communication services such as Facebook, Google Talk, Skype, MSN. At first I thought this might lead to unnecessary spam, but in the few days I have used it, I have only been asked to answer a question once.

Aardvark also has a very nicely designed iPhone app that uses push notification to ask questions and also inform you that your questions have been answered. I have asked about a few question already, all in different categories. In most cases the questions were answered within 20 minutes, which is great.

Give it a go: http://www.vark.com