ChaCha message service Review

Knowledge is a dangerous thing. Very little knowledge is a disaster. Little knowledge coupled with massive amounts of self-confidence is deadly.

Case in point; "Know-it-all" friend.

We all have "those" friends who talk out of their ass. Their obscure quotes, statistics, and unbelievable stories leave you saying "BS" on a daily basis.
He talks about stock prices as if he worked on Wall Street. He "knows" who played 3rd base for the Giants in 1997. He pontificates about the number of people that have contracted swine flu in Argentina.
While some may fooled by his confident tone, you know that he attempts to compensate for accuracy with confidence. You really wish you could pull out a laptop or encyclopedia to prove him wrong.

Well, it's become a whole lot easier with ChaCha.



ChaCha is an online (chacha.com) or text message service that will answer ANY question you have. It's very simple. You text chacha (242242) with your question, and within 5 minutes or so, you will get a text message including the answer. They also offer a voice and online service, but I didn't give it a try.

How much could this service cost?? $19.99? $29.99? Do they offer a free food-chopper with the service? (plus shipping charges)

Nope....it's free. (standard text message rates apply)

How is this service offered? How do they do it?

Well, the free text comes with a plea to text them for jokes, horoscope, or other ways to bilk you out your hard-earned cash. Stay away from their ads, and you'll be fine.

What magic supercomputer do they have that can answer all these questions in a timely, accurate manner?

Here's the rub: Normal Joe's and stay-at-home Mom's are answering your questions.

When your question is sent into the ChaCha Borg mainframe, it gets routed to the appropriate person who would be best suited to answer your question. This person could live in Spokane, or down in Tallahassee.

They are sitting at their computer doing exactly what you would do if you had Internet access----searching Google or Yahoo for the answer to your question.

The beauty is that "most" of the time, you'll get the answer you want. Unfortunately, you may also ask a question that is too difficult or too obscure to answer. Or perhaps the search result is not accurate, and you'll get an incorrect answer.

I decided to test the system with some simple questions that one should be able to find on Google rather quickly. Look-see.

What is the rent on Boardwalk with a hotel in Monopoly? Rent on Boardwalk: unimproved-$50, one house-$200, 2 houses-$600, 3 houses-$1400, 4 houses-$1700, hotel-$2000.
This answer went above and beyond the call of duty.

Is Lindsay Lohan gay? Lindsay has sparked headlines about her sexuality with rumors that she's dating Samantha Ronson, but a friend says she's not gay.
This one is slippery slope. A friend? A friend of Lindsay, or the one answering the question?

Who has hit over 60 HR in on MLB season? 4 people have hit 60 home runs in a season: Roger Maris-61, Barry Bonds-73, Mark McGwire-69, Sammy Sosa-66.
This is partially correct. 4 people have hit over 60 HR's in one season, but McGwire has done it twice, and Sosa has done it 3 times. They also didn't incorrectly put Babe Ruth in with 60 HR's...as I asked for those with MORE than 60.

So take ChaCha for exactly what it purports to be: A bunch of average people searching Google for your answer, of which will be MOSTLY correct MOST of the time. If this is something you can deal with MOST of the time....give it a try.

Just don't tell your smart-ass buddy that it's not 100% accurate, as his over-confidence will easily trump any actual facts you may receive.

ChaCha smarts its way to a 4-star rating.