Jabbits Beta Answers and Questions
by
on April 22, 2007,
Jabbits.com is an interactive Q & A startup site similar to Yahoo! Answers with a video twist. The site is aimed at the video and community based search engine segments of Web 2.0. Essentially, Jabbits is a consumer research tool that allows users to upload video questions from web-cams, mobile phones or camcorders that will provoke video answers. The idea is quite intriguing, but its functionality is dependent on the site's popularity and diversity. The market for this type of educational tool is really wide open, so let's see if Jabbits can cut the mustard.
The most innovative aspect of this startup is in the potential for companies or researchers to compile market or other research data across the market spectrum. Given the massive number of people with video capability today, the utility of such a portal could be enormous. Jabbits offers a way for companies to buy research data or technical answers from the community at large via their portal.
Companies can post questions in the “Research Questions” section on Jabbits and potential responders then fill out questionnaires so that the companies can evaluate demographic, qualitative or other factors to choose a cross section of responders. The companies pay the qualified respondents for answering the questions. So Jabbits has monetized or connected both sides of the market equation.
In principal the idea is a very innovative and sound one, and the more humanistic feel of such Q & A discourse is especially attractive. In a press release via PRWeb, Ben Little, Co-Founder of Jabbits elaborates so:
“The online question and answer space has gained dramatic traction over the past year. Several well-known companies have launched successful Q&A sites, but none have combined interactive user-generated video. Jabbits is entertaining, but it is much more than that. It engages users in a format that prompts answers to their questions in face-to-face interaction instead of a text-only format. Adding the human element establishes credibility that text-based sites can never achieve.”
The Take
Many Web personalities and experts are very big on using Web 2.0 as an educational tool. Sites like Jabbits appear to be addressing this market, but have not yet fully caught on for some reason. Jabbits has a great UI and organization, with the potential and obvious capability (with additional add-ons) to not only entertain people but to provide answers in a way unheard of just a couple of years ago. There seems to be an impasse or two that this sector is having trouble with. I expect part of the problem is the time involved in making even the shortest of video answers and then there is the question of linking research in with video. Unless there is some way of commercializing the video or somehow using its relative personality, I don't think we are there yet in a business sense.
The motivational aspect for business and responders seems attractive and there are quite a few research topics on the site now. One thing that I noticed immediately was the uncluttered way Jabbits makes use of their Flash. The ability to ask or answer questions either privately or publicly is both helpful and a fore gone conclusion also. The best thing I can say about the tool is that “It gets her done” in its ability to present the Q & A.
What Else?
On the practical side Jabbits should combine with a data analysis entity so that all the potential resources could be aggregated, sorted and analyzed for some type of market sector solution. Jabbits addresses a slice of the research segment, but does not present a wholly viable business solution for the research venue. The people, questions and answers provide a striking personality to the site, but something is missing. Some type of criteria for qualifying responders to personal technical questions might help, but the business end of the site has a much larger hurdle.
A rather flippant take I have on the site would be to dissect the topical categories into one for smart people and another for dumb asses. I think if many people could objectively view how uninformed and ridiculous they appear on video answering questions, then more of us would get really good at editing. Many of the people on the site now obviously have great cameras and know how (sort of) to use them. Most of their obvious qualifications to provide answers leave a lot to be desired. Perhaps some type of QA DA tag for users to questions or answers with would be in order. At least this aspect would make the Jabbits experience even more fun and a learning experience for some.
The bottom line is the site can be very useful for people with video cameras who have questions or answers. As far as the design and Web 2.0 characteristics the site has all that. I like it very much, but I am still looking for an answer as to exactly how research and video can be more viably connected. I hope they solve this dilemma
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This is an interesting idea, the connection between research and video is not readily apparent. Assuming there is a connection, that is.
One of the problems that Jabbits seems to suffer from — like most Q & A sites seem to — is a lack of credentialing or at least a lack of confirmed credentialing. Let’s say the following real estate question were asked: “Who gets the commission for a sale if there’s both a seller’s broker and a buyer’s broker?”
The right person to answer is someone with a real estate license or who is studying for one, or who is a real estate attorney or is perhaps in Law School and taking Real Property. Even someone who has bought and sold 20 houses doesn’t necessarily have the right level of experience. And even then, the question, although it appears to be specific, is actually somewhat vague. The first thing the answerer needs to know is — which state are we talking about? This is because circumstances differ from state to state. It’s even possible that the questioner is thinking of an instance from outside the US.
How do you know the person answering is correct? Or motivated to tell the truth? Or at least in the ballpark, and with their heart in the right place?
For less professional-type questions, though, credentialing and even accuracy are less of a concern. If a questioner wants to know how to keep the new puppy from doing its business inside the house, a lot of people could answer. It doesn’t have to be a veterinarian or a dog trainer. It could just be someone who’s owned at least one dog. Or even, possibly, just someone who watches a lot of “The Dog Whisperer” on TV. In that instance, being in the ballpark, with their heart in the right place, is likely to be a good enough standard.
Jabbits seems to be working with a mix of inquiries closer to the dog training question than the realty one. And these are, oddly enough, tagged as “research” where the answerer can receive remuneration for responding. In fact, the questions seem to be less about scholarly-type research or even community-based Q & A than about marketing research. On the day I looked at the site, the research questions were for things like video game console and PC brand or type preferences. If that’s the norm, then the site would skew more towards consumer choices than anything terribly brainy. And if that’s the business plan, then fine. But if a questioner wants to know about real estate or dog training, they’d go elsewhere.
Anyone can answer a question about their preferred brand of soap, and many do, and usually it’s for some sort of nominal financial gain (coupons, etc.). In that arena, Jabbits is not new, although the idea of using Flash to make a preference known is somewhat new. But is Flash really needed to simply utter a word like “Tide” or “Fab”? If Jabbits pushes their Q & A realm into more of a community or more of a scholarly arena, then it will really have something new, but I suspect that Jabbits’ main innovation would hold them back in both fields. Scholarly discussions don’t need little Flash movies to get their points across, and communities aren’t build on more than a very shaky foundation if there isn’t much interaction. Tossing a Flash movie out there, even in response to an inquiry, does not smack of much in the way of interrelation among users. Plus the real estate and puppy questions don’t need a movie for the information to get out there. Text, perhaps with a picture or chart, will do.
Unless Jabbits can show me a way to use their site for something other than market research, I’ll take a pass. For puppies and real estate, and a lot of other things, less is more.