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More than a million people now are using their cell phones to get answers to just about any question through a service called "ChaCha" that uses real people instead of computers to send you a text message back.
To use the ChaCha mobile search service you call or text a question to ChaCha. Then one of the company's 25,000 employees sends you a text answer.
I asked some college students to try it out. One student said, "I asked ChaCha a question. I asked what came first, the chicken or the egg? They said, I don't know but the Chicken McNugget came before the Egg McMuffin."
It's a free service, and the company eventually hopes to make money through deals with cell phone carriers and advertising sent along with the answers.
I even asked ChaCha what football team is better, BYU or Utah. It responded, saying both were highly successful.
The ChaCha service is one of many mobile search services out there where you can ask a question and get an answer. However, most of the services use computers to process the question and send a response. The ChaCha service has a computer that sends your question to one of their employees, or guides as they call them, who then looks up an answer and personally responds through a text.
The company kicked off the ChaCha service at the Sundance Film Festival in January by answering festival-goers' text message questions about things such as movies and wait times in lines.
To use ChaCha: If your mobile phone handles text messaging, call 1-800-2ChaCha (800-224-2242) or send a text question to 242242. Calls from home phones or landline phones will not work.
E-mail: rjeppesen@ksl.com
