ChaCha was an American human-guidedsearch engine that provided free, real-time answers to any question, through its website, or by using one of the company's mobile apps.
Cha-Cha
Founded
September 1, 2006; 16 years ago (2006-09-01) in Carmel, Indiana
An alpha version of ChaCha was launched on September 1, 2006. A beta version was introduced on November 6, 2006.[2] ChaCha said 20,000 guides had registered by year's end and that it had raised US$6 million in development funds, including support from Bezos Expeditions, a personal investment firm owned by Jeff Bezos, the entrepreneur behind Amazon.com.[3]
By January 2008, ChaCha had 5,000 freelance guides with at least 500 working at any one time.[4] MogoNews.com reported that ChaCha's first round of equity financing was $14 million plus a $2 million grant from 21st Century Technology Fund.[5]
ChaCha announced on March 17, 2009,[6] a new round of equity financing totaling US$12 million,[7] while also laying off 25 people and reducing the salaries of the 56 remaining employees by 10 percent.[8][9] The renewed investment brought total venture capital to an acknowledged $43 million,[10] though an independent estimate placed it at $58 million.[10] A month later, co-founder Brad Bostic stepped down as company president, saying ChaCha no longer needed him for day-to-day operations.[10][11] Bostic noted that the company had been struggling for profitability in the current global recession.[10]
On April 20, 2012, ChaCha shut down operations in the United Kingdom; the company stated the reason for ending UK operations was that "adoption rates for new price-competitive services are quite low in the UK."[14]
On November 23, 2016, ChaCha discontinued the guide program due to having insufficient funds available.[15]
On December 12, 2016, ChaCha shut down operations due to declining advertising revenue, which left it unable to service its debt.[16]
Products
Desktop search
ChaCha was founded with the intention to offer human-guided search from within a web browser and for the search engine to learn from the results provided by their freelancers.[17] The system offered a chat on the left side of the page where users could chat with the guides and conclude their search.[17] The center of the page contained results that a guide could add or remove (later users could also add or remove these results). The right side of the page contained ads that were relevant to the search.[18]
Desktop search was phased out in April 2008 in favor of mobile products.[19]
Mobile search
Users were able to send an SMS message with their question to 242–242, where Guides would then answer it. Standard messaging fees could apply, but ChaCha never charged additional fees.
Voice search
ChaCha launched its beta version of a call-in search service on April 1, 2008, while discontinuing its less effective guided web search.[19] Users called a toll-free number (800-2ChaCha) to have a human answer their questions via SMS.
Mobile marketing
In July 2008, ChaCha launched its first mobile marketing campaign with Coca-Cola to promote its My Coke Rewards program to users interested in NASCAR racing.[20]Fox News reported that ChaCha planned by mid-2008 to charge users $5–10 per month once they exceeded 10 queries.[21] However, by May 2009, no additional fees had been implemented, nor had any plans been officially announced by a reliable source.[22]
In November 2008, ChaCha launched its SMS Advertising Platform at ad:tech New York City.[23][24]
In March 2009, ChaCha reported 30 million "impressions per month" and "3.6 million users" since January 2008.[25][26] An ESPN 2009 article stated that ChaCha was getting about 1,000,000 questions each day according to their tipsheets.[27] A former Yahoo executive opened a New York City office for ChaCha in hopes of increasing advertising.[28]
^. 17 January 2008. Archived from the original on 23 March 2009. Retrieved 29 March 2009.
^Duryee, Tricia. "ChaCha Secures $12M in Financing, Reduces Staff", mocoNews.net, March 18, 2009, quoting "peHUB"
^"ChaCha Secures $12M in Equity Financing and Reduces Costs | ChaCha". Partners.chacha.com. 2009-03-17. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
^"ChaCha Secures $12M in Financing, Reduces Staff"[permanent dead link] By Andrew Berg WirelessWeek.com – March 18, 2009
^Rao, Leena (March 17, 2009). "Nobody is Dancing At ChaCha. One Third Of Employees Get Pink Slips, Salary Cuts For The Rest". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
^"ChaCha Cuts Staff, Salaries To Make $12 Million In New Capital Last Longer" Washington Post March 18, 2009 quoting mocoNews.net
^ abcdWauters, Robin (April 30, 2009). "ChaCha Co-Founder Brad Bostic Steps Down As President". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2012-09-02.
^"Review: ChaCha's Text-Message Search Engine" 2009-03-23 at the Wayback Machine Thursday, January 17, 2008 at FoxNews.com quoting Candace Choi with AP
^"ChaCha press release March 17, 2009". Partners.chacha.com. 2009-03-17. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
^"ChaCha Secures $12M in Financing, Reduces Staff"[permanent dead link] By Andrew Berg in WirelessWeek.com – March 18, 2009
^ ab"Reilly: ChaCha has all the answers – unless I'm on the other end". ESPN The Magazine. Go.com. October 5, 2009. Retrieved 2010-04-14.
^"ChaCha's CEO, Scott Jones, on layoffs, new funding and sales staff increases" 2014-05-27 at the Wayback Machine March 18, 2009 audio by InsideINdianaBusiness.com
External links
(Archive index)
January 28, 2023
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This article may rely excessively on sources too closely associated with the subject potentially preventing the article from being verifiable and neutral Please help improve it by replacing them with more appropriate citations to reliable independent third party sources September 2012 Learn how and when to remove this template message ChaCha was an American human guided search engine that provided free real time answers to any question through its website or by using one of the company s mobile apps Cha ChaFoundedSeptember 1 2006 16 years ago 2006 09 01 in Carmel IndianaDefunctDecember 12 2016 2016 12 12 HeadquartersCarmel Indiana United StatesArea servedWorldwideKey peopleScott Jones founder Websitechacha com defunct The company founded in 2006 by Scott A Jones and Brad Bostic was based in Carmel Indiana United States part of the Indianapolis metropolitan area Its name comes from the Mandarin Chinese word cha Chinese 查 pinyin cha Wade Giles ch a which means to search 1 Contents 1 History 2 Products 2 1 Desktop search 2 2 Mobile search 2 3 Voice search 2 4 Mobile marketing 3 References 4 External linksHistory EditAn alpha version of ChaCha was launched on September 1 2006 A beta version was introduced on November 6 2006 2 ChaCha said 20 000 guides had registered by year s end and that it had raised US 6 million in development funds including support from Bezos Expeditions a personal investment firm owned by Jeff Bezos the entrepreneur behind Amazon com 3 By January 2008 ChaCha had 5 000 freelance guides with at least 500 working at any one time 4 MogoNews com reported that ChaCha s first round of equity financing was 14 million plus a 2 million grant from 21st Century Technology Fund 5 ChaCha announced on March 17 2009 6 a new round of equity financing totaling US 12 million 7 while also laying off 25 people and reducing the salaries of the 56 remaining employees by 10 percent 8 9 The renewed investment brought total venture capital to an acknowledged 43 million 10 though an independent estimate placed it at 58 million 10 A month later co founder Brad Bostic stepped down as company president saying ChaCha no longer needed him for day to day operations 10 11 Bostic noted that the company had been struggling for profitability in the current global recession 10 In August 2011 ChaCha launched its text messaging based service in the United Kingdom 12 That same month the company reported having answered over 1 7 billion questions 13 On April 20 2012 ChaCha shut down operations in the United Kingdom the company stated the reason for ending UK operations was that adoption rates for new price competitive services are quite low in the UK 14 On November 23 2016 ChaCha discontinued the guide program due to having insufficient funds available 15 On December 12 2016 ChaCha shut down operations due to declining advertising revenue which left it unable to service its debt 16 Products EditDesktop search Edit ChaCha was founded with the intention to offer human guided search from within a web browser and for the search engine to learn from the results provided by their freelancers 17 The system offered a chat on the left side of the page where users could chat with the guides and conclude their search 17 The center of the page contained results that a guide could add or remove later users could also add or remove these results The right side of the page contained ads that were relevant to the search 18 Desktop search was phased out in April 2008 in favor of mobile products 19 Mobile search Edit Users were able to send an SMS message with their question to 242 242 where Guides would then answer it Standard messaging fees could apply but ChaCha never charged additional fees Voice search Edit ChaCha launched its beta version of a call in search service on April 1 2008 while discontinuing its less effective guided web search 19 Users called a toll free number 800 2ChaCha to have a human answer their questions via SMS Mobile marketing Edit In July 2008 ChaCha launched its first mobile marketing campaign with Coca Cola to promote its My Coke Rewards program to users interested in NASCAR racing 20 Fox News reported that ChaCha planned by mid 2008 to charge users 5 10 per month once they exceeded 10 queries 21 However by May 2009 no additional fees had been implemented nor had any plans been officially announced by a reliable source 22 In November 2008 ChaCha launched its SMS Advertising Platform at ad tech New York City 23 24 In March 2009 ChaCha reported 30 million impressions per month and 3 6 million users since January 2008 25 26 An ESPN 2009 article stated that ChaCha was getting about 1 000 000 questions each day according to their tipsheets 27 A former Yahoo executive opened a New York City office for ChaCha in hopes of increasing advertising 28 In April 2009 Rick Reilly spent some time working at ChaCha for an article in ESPN The Magazine 27 References Edit How did your company get the name ChaCha chacha com 2009 Retrieved 2009 05 24 ChaCha press release Archived 2007 09 27 at the Wayback Machine BusinessWire November 6 2006 ChaCha secures 6 million in private funding from Jeff Bezos Rod Canion Jack Gill and others ChaCha press release January 8 2007 Review ChaCha s Text Message Search Engine 17 January 2008 Archived from the original on 23 March 2009 Retrieved 29 March 2009 Duryee Tricia ChaCha Secures 12M in Financing Reduces Staff mocoNews net March 18 2009 quoting peHUB ChaCha Secures 12M in Equity Financing and Reduces Costs ChaCha Partners chacha com 2009 03 17 Retrieved 2010 04 14 ChaCha Secures 12M in Financing Reduces Staff permanent dead link By Andrew Berg WirelessWeek com March 18 2009 Rao Leena March 17 2009 Nobody is Dancing At ChaCha One Third Of Employees Get Pink Slips Salary Cuts For The Rest TechCrunch Retrieved 2012 09 02 ChaCha Cuts Staff Salaries To Make 12 Million In New Capital Last Longer Washington Post March 18 2009 quoting mocoNews net a b c d Wauters Robin April 30 2009 ChaCha Co Founder Brad Bostic Steps Down As President TechCrunch Retrieved 2012 09 02 ChaCha partner dancing to different drum co founder out as president in as strategist Indianapolis Business Journal HighBeam Research April 27 2009 Archived from the original on May 27 2014 Retrieved 2012 09 02 Learn Teach Earn with ChaCha s Human Guide Program tmcnet com August 17 2011 Retrieved 2012 09 02 Proven Leader in Work From Home Opportunities Launching in UK Corporate Press Release ChaCha com August 16 2011 Q amp A Site ChaCha Cancels UK Business After Poor User Take Up TechCrunch com April 27 2012 bwigley 23 November 2016 Apollo Guide Program Retirement ChaCha ChaCha Retrieved 2 December 2016 ChaCha unable to find financial answers shuts down operations Indianapolis Business Journal 12 December 2016 Retrieved 13 January 2017 a b One day searchers may quit Googling and start ChaCha ing USA Today 2006 09 06 Retrieved 2010 04 14 JPG screenshot srajaram com a b ChaCha Ditches Guided Search Model I Love To Hate This Startup TechCrunch March 31 2008 ChaCha Cofounder Describes How the Company Is Making Money Archived 2009 05 03 at the Wayback Machine U S News amp World Report August 8 2008 Review ChaCha s Text Message Search Engine Archived 2009 03 23 at the Wayback Machine Thursday January 17 2008 at FoxNews com quoting Candace Choi with AP ChaCha Content Usage Limit Content chacha com 2009 05 07 Retrieved 2010 04 14 Akamai ChaCha Announce Parties at New York Adtechblog com 2008 10 22 Archived from the original on February 8 2010 Retrieved 2010 04 14 Podcast released Our ad tech Making Mobile Work workshop chacha com Retrieved 2010 04 14 ChaCha press release March 17 2009 Partners chacha com 2009 03 17 Retrieved 2010 04 14 ChaCha Secures 12M in Financing Reduces Staff permanent dead link By Andrew Berg in WirelessWeek com March 18 2009 a b Reilly ChaCha has all the answers unless I m on the other end ESPN The Magazine Go com October 5 2009 Retrieved 2010 04 14 ChaCha s CEO Scott Jones on layoffs new funding and sales staff increases Archived 2014 05 27 at the Wayback Machine March 18 2009 audio by InsideINdianaBusiness comExternal links EditOfficial website Archive index Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title ChaCha search engine amp oldid 1126232312, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
