Do you have a question lingering on your mind, but you are unable to find an answer? Then you could use some ChaCha in your life. ChaCha is an innovative mobile text answer service started by Scott A. Jones in 2006. ChaCha initially began as a man-powered search engine. When somebody typed in a search query, a hired at-home ChaCha guide would locate the answer and then present it to the customer. In early 2008, the search engine was abandoned for a mobile text answer service.
If you are stuck with an unanswerable question, all you must do is either text your question to 242242, or call 1-800-2chacha and leave a voice mail with your question. Within five minutes, an at-home ChaCha infoseek guide will send you a FREE text message with the answer. Standard text messaging rates still apply. Chacha’s multifaceted guides are equipped to answer any question, no matter how tough or outright ridiculous. Do you want to know how many people voted during the 2004 presidential elections? Or perhaps you desire a quick and easy recipe for frying chicken. Maybe you just want to know if Brad likes Jenny. No matter what the question, ChaCha is available 24/7 to answer it.
ChaCha is obviously a very useful service. However, I do have some complaints. During the beginning of summer 2008, I was hired at ChaCha as a voice transcriptionist. It was my duty to transcribe all voice calls into text. While working one evening, a young Lady called in and asked, “Hi. Umm… my bf and I are about to have sex. Um… what can I like do to make it feel better?” I was disturbed by how young she sounded. To ensure that an APPROPRIATE answer was provided, I typed ‘(sounds very young)’ next to the question. In less than three days, I was fired.
I am very disturbed that ChaCha apparently does not care whose questions it answers. To test the service, I texted them on September 2nd, 2008 with, “Hi. I am 15. My bf wants to have sex. Should I do it with him?” They replied in three minutes with, “If you choose to have sex with him, make sure you wear a condom. Thank you for using ChaCha.” I was absolutely appalled. ChaCha is in no position to give out sex tips and advice to young, naive children. ChaCha’s mission is to provide answers to questions. But doesn’t that entail taking responsibility by filtering content that would be unsuitable for youthful eyes?
In addition, during my time at ChaCha, I discovered that children were using ChaCha as a homework answer service. When confronted with a challenging problem, kids would text in the question and wait for ChaCha to supply them with the answer. Isn’t this equivalent to cheating? Personally, I would rather these children ask their teacher or parents for help.
My final complaint is in regards to ChaCha employees. There are two types of ChaCha employees: infoseek guides and voice transcriptionists. If a potential infoseek guide fails his or her entrance exam, which involves answering 15 sample questions, they are permanently banned from becoming a guide. Instead, they can opt to try to pass the transcriptionist test. What disturbed me is that the infoseek guides oftentimes had a very conceited and egotistical nature to them. They acted as if they were more intelligent than voice transcriptionists because they managed to pass their infoseek test without difficulty. They continually harped about how anybody who fails the infoseek test is clearly not equipped to answer questions. From my observance of the forum, I discovered that there were even MBA graduates who had failed the test. Yet, they were apparently not intelligent enough to answer some simple questions? That is absurd. The fact that a potential at-home guide is only allowed to take the test once is unfair, unwarranted, and ridiculous. Furthermore, it only perpetuates the arrogance and cocky nature of those who do pass.
All in all, ChaCha is indeed a handy service. You can use ChaCha for street directions, recipes, word definitions, and much more. However, ChaCha does have its share of problems. For one, ChaCha does not filter its answers. How would you feel if you discovered your son or daughter was seeking sexual tips from ChaCha? Personally, I refuse to use ChaCha and have blocked their number on my phone. But the decision is up to you. All I ask is that if you do choose to use ChaCha, you speak with your kids and let them know that ChaCha is meant as a final solution for emergency situations, not a quick and easy answer guide to be abused.
