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Q: Oyogi Competitors ( Answered 4 out of 5 stars,   0 Comments )
Question  
Subject: Oyogi Competitors
Category: Computers > Internet
Asked by: uedauhes-ga
List Price: $50.00
Posted: 13 Jan 2006 10:07 PST
Expires: 12 Feb 2006 10:07 PST
Question ID: 432928
I would like to find out who the Oyogi competitors are.  They
reference at least one competitor on a blog post here:
http://www.oyogi.com/oyogi/main.action

Clarification of Question by uedauhes-ga on 13 Jan 2006 10:11 PST
Sorry their poorly designed site did not give me a permalink when I
clicked on the link.  It is
http://oyogi.blogs.com/yogblog/2005/12/ding_ding_ding_.html
Answer  
Subject: Re: Oyogi Competitors
Answered By: pafalafa-ga on 13 Jan 2006 13:41 PST
Rated:4 out of 5 stars
 
uedauhes-ga,


Thanks for your question, and for pointing out this interesting site.

You asked about competitors to Oyogi.com.  I'm not sure a site that's
devoted to building community, as Oyogi seems to be, needs to see the
world in terms of competition from other community-building sites.

But clearly, they do, as their blog makes clear...not only
competitors, but bullies:


=====
http://oyogi.blogs.com/yogblog/2005/12/ding_ding_ding_.html
December 08, 2005
Bullies in the Hallway

Yesterday, we learned  that our first clear and very formiddable
competitor had entered the space...In the 6th grade, I remember there
was a bully who pushed a friend away from the water fountain as he was
having a drink and took a cheapshot at him in the process. I also
remember the rush of adrenaline that came over me as Benji and I
chased him down the hall ...  I think we all get that feeling from
time to time... We just enjoyed a little dose today.

...As the weeks and months unfold, we're going to see even more
competitors enter the space.

...We're listening, and we're counting on you to help us chase the
bully down the hall...
=====


So, who's the big bully they're referring to?  Though they don't name
names, it seems clear that they're talking about none other than the
recently-launched Yahoo Answers.



===== 
http://blog.searchenginewatch.com/blog/051207-220118
The Birth of Yahoo Answers
Dec. 7, 2005 

...Now out in beta is Yahoo Answers, Yahoo's new social
networking/online community/question answering service. The service
allows any registered Yahoo user to ask just about any question and
hopefully get an answer from another member of the question answering
community. Access to Yahoo Answers is free.

Yahoo Answers appears to be definite extension of what Yahoo's Senior
Vice President, Search and Marketplace, Jeff Weiner, calls FUSE (Find,
Use, Share, Expand) and Yahoo's numerous efforts into online community
building...
=====



As you can see, Yahoo Answers was announced right around December 7,
2005 (to considerable fanfare, I might add).  The "Bullies in the
Hallway" post appeared on December 8th, a clear indication that Yahoo
Answers is, indeed, the "very formidable competitor" that had entered
Oyogi's space.


The Oyogi blog also makes it clear that they see Yahoo Answers as the
one and only competitor to have "entered the space" that had been
soley occupied by Oyogi until recently.

And indeed, the similarities between the two Q&A services are
noteworthy.  Yahoo Answers and Oyogi share the following similarities:

--both are free

--'entry' into the community is very low-hurdle (i.e. anyone can
browse, formal participation is a matter of simple registration)

--pretty much any topic is fair game -- there arent' boundaries on the
types of questions asked.

--anyone can ask a question

--anyone can answer a question

--there's a strong focus at both sites on "community"

--both services have a chatty blog feature

--both are recent arrivals

--both are in beta


The two key differences seem to be:

--Yahoo Answers uses a rating system for answers, and a points system
as a quasi-award for participation.  Oyogi, on the other hand, is
relatively value-free in that respect...no ratings, no points.

--Yahoo Answers encourages multiple answers to a given question, with
the asker selecting the preferred answer.  Oyogi operates more on a
first come, first answered basis.


And another huge difference that must be mentioned -- Oyogi has 61
questions (and many fewer answers) in its system as of the time of
this writing, while Yahoo Answers, in its few short weeks of
existence, already has thousands of answered questions, and thousands
more awaiting answers.  To the extent that Oyogi and Yahoo Answers are
competitors, it's quite the David vs Goliath type of
competition...though we all know who came out on top for that one.


I agree with Oyogi's assessment that there are not, at present, other
competitors in this particular space...at least, not any that match as
closely as Oyogi and Yahoo Answers do.


Of course, there's Google Answers, though the model here is
significantly different.  And there are literally thousands of free
Q&A sites with a focus on a particular subject area, such as computer
help.



There are a few sites that come close to Oyogi, though, in terms of
offering free Q&A on a fairly unrestricted basis.  These are:



http://www.wondir.com/wondir/jsp/index.jsp
Wondir


http://www.freepint.com/bar/
Freepint Bar


http://www.askbar.com/
Askbar


http://www.pointask.com/pointask/pointask.html
PointAsk


http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/
AnswerBank


===============


I trust this information fully answers your question.


However, please don't rate this answer if you find you would like any
additional information.  Just post a Request for Clarification to let
me know what you need, and I'm at your service.


All the best,


pafalafa-ga


search strategy -- Google search on [ oyogi ] along with bookmarked
sites for answer services.
uedauhes-ga rated this answer:4 out of 5 stars
The researcher did a pretty good job answering my question.

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