Getting Answers On Video Is Cool, But What About Asking?

in Reviews by David Miron — September 5, 2010 at 12:01 pm | 2 comments

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The recently announced partnership between Answers.com and 5Min seems to hold some real promise for those seeking answers to questions online. With the flick of a switch, the leading answer engine just got a boost of over 200,000 answer videos, that’s good, right?  Let’s see.

5Min’s engagement with Answers.com is not new, the video distribution giant’s content has been appearing on Answers.com for a while now. The newly disclosed partnership, however, promises to embed 5Min’s content into answers.com’s offering, and set new standards for answer engines.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to put this new offering to a real test. Upon entering my home I discovered the central air conditioning unit raining water onto the hallway floor. The manufacturer Promised to send a technician in one week, all seemed lost, as this is the hottest summer on record, ever.

I tackled Answers.com for some help, hoping that it would come in video format. I didn’t get very far. There where no video answers to be found for my question, and the textual one was useless. While searching for help I noticed that the new search result page offered no clue as to what format the answers they were offering were in. It took several attempts to realize that relevant video content that was found to be related to my query is displayed at the bottom of the search result page, well below the fold.

Realizing I wasn’t going to find a quick answer this way I decided to post my question on site and see what comes in first, the answer or the technician. When I realized that I could not post my question in video format I was struck by the fact that Answers.com chose not to fully implement the impressive slew of tools offered by their new partner 5Min. Some of the results offered in the video section were completely off-topic as well.

I had hoped to catch my thermal nightmare on video and upload it with my question, rather than stumble my way through a verbal description laced with improper terms, but that was not to be.

On the bright side of things I was happy to see that there was actual relevant video content available on the subject even if I did not find my answer. Obviously when someone does answer my question that answer will join the plethora of others already online. The potential and vision behind this sort of partnership are obvious, it just seems that Answers.com aren’t fully committed to this vision at this time. Let’s hope this changes sometime soon so that the next review of this offering won’t be typed in near sauna conditions.

Tags: 5min Answers.com featured