Ask the Aardvark, He Has the Answers.

I have been using Aardvark for the last few days now and I have to say I like it!  I think it showed up my radar when the iPhone app floated up the “popular” and “free” app list on appshopper.com or some site like that.  Anyway, I have used the app, the website, and the IM integration and it’s pretty cool.  Basically you ask a question and someone gives an answer.  If you don’t like the answer or want another answer, you can resubmit the question.  The cool thing is you get an answer in minutes (typically).

When I initially saw the iPhone app I grabbed it thinking it was a company from this year’s TechCrunch50, however, after looking at the list I am guessing I confused it with “Hark“, a different application that I’ll likely try out soon.  It was cool to be able to ask a question on the iPhone then get a push notification when someone answered, however, the iPhone isn’t great for answering questions.  I’d love to say I have all the answers in my head, but the truth is Google is my friend.  When answering on the iPhone it isn’t easy to switch to Google, do some research, then cut and paste it back to the Aardvark app.  So I left the app there for when I have a question to ask rather then answer.

Next I tried out the web site. I could invite people, see how many people were on ready to answer questions for the most popular topics, and tweak my profile. Typical stuff.  The things I thought were missing were a real time feed of questions to answer or a web page to even see questions and a place to “browse” people online and invite them as friends.  Having used the service for a bit now I can see why these features were not a focus.

The last part was the instant message integration.  This is your typical IM bot that responds to commands and such, however, it is very well done.  Typing “help” provides you will all the info you need.  You can ask a question and Aardvark will reply via IM when someone answers or you can answer questions via IM.  You can ask Aardvark for a question or, occasionally, Aardvark will IM you with a question based on your profile.  It’s even smart enough to not bother you if you are “busy”.

So far I have asked a few questions and received correct replies within minutes.  You can even exchange messages with the person who answers your question for additional clarification, all anonymously, and Aardvark keeps a “log” of it all for future reference.  I think I’ll be using Aardvark as my “second” Google from now on.  If I can’t find an answer in 10 minutes on Google, then off to Aardvark to get the answer.  I’ll do my best not to be lazy and go to Aardvark first.

If you want to check out Aardvark you can use this link to join: http://vark.com/s/7ivF

(Full disclosure: I am getting nothing for this review nor for you using the link above to join. Therefore this review is unbiased. I do occasionally get “perks” for mentioning services and products but I will always disclose that to keeps things honest.)