Mosio the mobile questions and answers service I wrote about last year has a really cool and useful new feature today called Twitter Answers. Mosio users simply need to befriend the Mosio Twitter bot, and ask it any questions using Twitter's direct messaging feature. Other users who have befriended the bot will get your question (syndicated from the bot), and up to four of them can directly reply to you.
While the entire thread is somewhat meaningless with Twitter's lack of message threading, hopping over to Mosio you can see the entire exchange in its correct order. Better yet, if any regular Mosio members are able to answer your question, those answers will be shared over to Twitter.
For Mosio users who want to avoid using their phone's keypad, there is some reprieve. Last month Mosio partnered with Jott to set up a voice-to-text system that lets people ask questions using a standard phone call. Jott will then convert their voice question over to text and post it to the service, while sending any replies back in the form of SMS messages. Other users are able to follow along on Mosio's main page, their phone, and now on Twitter.
I still think one of the best uses of Mosio is to help sort out bar bets or random questions while out and about. Mobile users with a data plan can turn to Google or some other search engine to find out what they're looking for, but services like Mosio, Fluther, and Yahoo Answers provide a human touch in many areas that search engines cannot.
On a side note, Mosio was at SF Beta last night showing this off, and they had by far the most inventive Web swag I've seen in a long time. Witness, the adhesive mustache. How can you not remember this?
Best, Web swag. Ever.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
I came across an interesting site a few minutes ago from a BACN message from Myles Weissleder, creator of the SF New Tech Meetup group. One of the presenters, Mosio, will be showing off its site at next week's meetup. The company specializes in mobile Q&A, letting anyone with a phone ask a question via SMS or e-mail and get public replies back from other Mosio members. The site launched at the beginning of August and has since answered a good number of questions.
Like some other Q&A services, to ask and answer a question you've got to be a registered user, which Mosio calls "QnAgents." Unlike some expert-driven sites such as Citizendium, there are no prerequisites for being a Mosio agent, just the hope that you know the answers to the questions you're answering, or will go through the effort to research them. To ask a question, just write it as a text message and send it to ask@mosio.com. If anyone answers, you'll get a text back with his or her response. You can also check on Mosio's Web site for any replies. When you first ask a question, the system will automatically create a username and password for Mosio's site, so you can join up later to start befriending other Mosio users to track their responses.
In addition to simple Q&A, Mosio also offers a host of "apps," which are free, subscription-based text services that range from birthday reminders to content feeds from news providers. Like Twitter's tracking feature, you can turn them off and on, either by Web or through your phone. There's even a random Chuck Norris fact generator that admittedly is pretty useless, but free nonetheless.
I have to be honest, the look and feel of Mosio doesn't have anything on my other favorite Q&A site Fluther (review), but I'm really digging the mobile angle. Having just recently pulled the trigger on data for my phone after being on a barebones voice-only plan for the better part of a decade, I know there's a lot to be said for a site that lets you handle your business via SMS.
There is one big thing Mosio seems to be missing: a way to search through prior questions and answers. I suppose Mosio assumes that if you're visiting the site from your browser, you're on the Internet anyway, and can find the information elsewhere. Considering what Fluther and other Q&A repositories have done, though, a search with answers from humans might save you a question in the first place.
Related: Download.com's directory listing for Mosio
Ask a question. Get a response. At least that's the hope at Mosio, which is a questions-and-answers service with a mobile focus.
(Credit: CNET Networks)
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