Who’s in your knowledge network?

You’ve got a burning question and you know someone out there has got the answer. We’ve all been in this situation and for over 90 million people worldwide, spanning 20 countries, and 9 languages, Yahoo! Answers has been the answer. The topics are varied – food & drink, relationships, pets, tattoos, baseball, consumer electronics, and everything in between – but the experience is the same. Ask your question and get an answer from the Answers community. And with over 250 million answers so far, this community has managed to help a lot of people.

But even with all that knowledge being shared, one of the biggest pieces of feedback we’ve gotten from our users is to make Answers “smarter”, enabling them to get even better answers to their questions and connect to the smart people they know in (and out of) Answers. Well today, we think Yahoo! Answers just got a little bit smarter.

We just added a new capability to Answers, the Yahoo! Answers Network – currently in beta, which enables you to build your own personal knowledge network. So what exactly is a knowledge network? Simply put, it enables you to directly connect with people whose knowledge you value so you can easily share knowledge and discover interesting information on topics you care about.

More specifically, the Yahoo! Answers Network enables you to see if any of your contacts have asked a question, provided a great answer, or simply “starred” a question they found interesting. Here’s a screenshot from the Answers homepage of a user that has built out their Network:

By adding people to your network, Answers becomes a more personal, productive, and interesting experience, enabling you to tap into the knowledge of your network. There are two easy ways to build your network: 1) add anyone you find interesting in Answers simply by clicking “Add to My Contacts” – just mouse over their picture or go to their profile page; 2) invite your friends to join you on Answers. The bigger your network, the more likely you are to receive useful, timely answers to your questions from people who you know have the answers. In the end, Answers gets smarter for you because you’ll get smarter answers.

For details on how it works click here, and for even more information check out the Answers blog. The Answers Network is optional so you can opt out if you’d like. And as the Yahoo! Answers Network is currently in beta, we look forward to your feedback.

In just over a year, Yahoo! Answers has grown into a global community. The knowledge, expertise, wisdom, opinions, and personal experiences that are shared are truly astounding and unique to the Web, and we like to think, to Yahoo!. We hope that the addition of the Answers Network will allow our users to create lasting connections with one another and improve their lives and their communities.

Come build your personal knowledge network and grow what you know.

Elizabeth Douglas
Yahoo! Answers