Last week, I was lucky enough to get an invite to test out a new "Social Search" application called Aardvark that was recently released into the wild. Well, not completely into the wild (more on that in a sec), but wild enough that a no-talent hack like me managed to get an invitation (thanks again, @marshallk and @davidadewumi).
So here's how it works:
- You sign up.
- You tell Aardvark what types of questions you'd like to answer, rough categories like "Technology" or "Seattle."
- People ask questions through their IM client (Google Talk, AIM, Windows Live Messenger).
- Aardvark forwards that question along to a user on the network who's registered to answer questions about that topic.
You can tell Aardvark what times of day you're available to answer questions, and you always have the choice to Pass on one you can't answer.
A typical exchange might look something like this:
Asking questions is just as easy as answering them. You just IM a question to the aardvark.im contact and poof, Aardvark does the rest.
All in all, it's pretty damn cool, and extremely useful. I can't wait to see what happens once they get more users with a wider knowledge base onboard. Other than that, my only Wish List item would be Twitter support.
Now, getting back to that releasing-into-the-wild thing. Right now, Aardvark isn't open to the public, so there are only a couple ways to get in on the fun:
- See them at SxSW. Unfortunately, I believe today is the last day for the Interactive part of that show, so it's probably too late for that option.
- Find someone with invitations to share. Someone, perhaps, who's devastatingly handsome... with a really nerdy blog... who wrote this post...
So, yeah. I have a few invitations still that I'd be happy to share. Just email email me (justin@nerdliness.com) or leave a comment here if you're interested and I'll get back to you with the details. I only ask that you a) actually use the service and b) name your next child after me.