no.stupid.answers

As folks from across the globe (!) gear up to arrive in Austin, Texas, this week for South by Southwest, Answers.com is packing its bags with goodies to give out during the SXSW Interactive conference, from March 12-16.

If you’re going to be attending the event, make sure to follow Answersdotcom on Twitter. When questions about SXSW are tweeted, reply to Answersdotcom with your answers and win a prize! You’ll get prize-pick up instructions and walk away the proud of owner of an Answers.com… well, why ruin the surprise?

Read more about what Answers.com is giving away at SXSW this year.

Answers.com’s very own Shaya will be at SXSW Interactive too, so make sure to say hi. You can follow her at Pickleshy and get her perspective on the conference, too.

Here’s a quick tip from the Quick Tip Department. Have you ever wanted to get your questions out there not just to the WikiAnswers community, and not just to your Facebook and Twitter friends, but to all three groups?

Try using the new Facebook and Twitter buttons on question pages. It’s a great way to broaden your audience. Share unanswered questions to get them answered faster by people you know. Share answered questions to show off your talent for answering, or just to share laughs about something funny you read. (You can start with our funniest questions.)

Have fun, and get the word out there!

Well, social webbies, you’ve got the Facebook, you’ve got the Twitter, the Yahoo! and Google accounts to play around with. And now you’re about to spend more time online with those IDs. Answers.com announced its new social media angle today at CES in Las Vegas:

Answers.com Connects with Social Media

Users will now have the option to log in to Answers.com with their preferred Web identities. Experts will also be able to identify themselves with their real names, more conveniently building their online reputations.

“We see a big advantage in allowing our contributors to use their existing Web identities on our site,” said Bob Rosenschein, CEO. “This change is expected to simplify login, reduce time to contribution, and increase the quality of our answers, as more people visit our site and build their online reputations. We added support for Facebook, Twitter and Yahoo! accounts today and will be adding support for Google accounts in the near future.”

In short, you can create a new Answers.com account using your existing Facebook, Twitter or Yahoo! account. What’s the advantage? As mentioned, it’s a great way to build on your already existent social web ID and if you connect through Facebook, it adds the real-life human element to your answers and bolsters your online reputation.

If you happen to be at CES, visit the Answers.com booth at ShowStoppers Media Event tonight.

Break out the bubbly - it’s that time of year again.

It’s time to celebrate turning one year older and one year wiser (er, well, at least one year older). Let’s take some time to sit back and reflect on some of the most inspiring, outrageous, unfortunate and touching stories of 2009 through the eyes of Answers.com’s most curious contributors.

History was made as the first African American president of the United States was inaugurated into office. A record number of people watched President Barack Obama’s moment in person, as well as from their TV sets and computers around the world. But wouldn’t it have been even better to have been a fly on the White House wall that day? On second thought, maybe not…

Speaking of TV, the commercials of the year go to:

1. Corona, for casting a mysterious hot babe in their beach-front ad…
2. Geico, for vocals, animation and ingenuity…
3. HTC, for getting us pumped with song…

…combine ‘em all and you have a jamming pothole in a white bikini!

If you’re not on Facebook, that means two things. First of all, you are a freak of nature. Second, you missed playing the top three hottest apps on the site: Mafia Wars, YoVille and Farmville. Lucky for you, the WikiAnswers community can answer that question you’ve been dying to know: How do you get the purple sheep in Farmville?

While on the topic of animals, it would be wise to note that our little oinker friend, however cute and tasty, is being held responsible for one of the worst virus scares in history. When the World Health Organization raised the warning level for H1N1 to a shocking level 6 (global pandemic), everyone wanted to know how to avoid the Swine Flu.

Although sickness is avoidable, death, unfortunately, is not. This year saw many fallen stars, such as: gossip columnist James Brady, Charlie’s Angel Farrah Fawcett, Dirty Dancer Patrick Swayze, U.S. Senate powerhouse Ted Kennedy, ‘most trusted man’ Walter Cronkite, all-around actress Natasha Richardson, ‘philosopher of adolescence’ John Hughes and globally-recognized pop music legend Michael Jackson. RIP.

Those stars passed away, while other stars killed their own reputations. Kanye West ripped the mic out of Taylor Swift’s hands faster than Chris Brown could throw a punch at Rihanna. ‘Jon and Kate Plus Eight’ was renamed ‘Kate Plus Eight’ after Jon supposedly strayed from his wife. Tiger Woods was also outed as an 18-hole ‘Cheetah.’

But fret not! Many other rising celebrities have proven their worth to the public in 2009. Underdog Susan Boyle was, at one point this year, the most YouTubed person in the world. She ‘dreamed a dream’ - and so did Justin Bieber, a 15-year-old singing prodigy who became famous after posting his work online.

Another irresistible YouTube sensation included the ‘Forever’ wedding dance.

The Yankees also performed well this year and won the World Series for the 27th time. Baseball was a great distraction from the economic recession, which started with the crash of the stock market in 2008 and led to a global scare - and stimulus plan - in 2009.

Almost as scary was your grandma trying to figure out the conversion box for the TV to HDTV switch.

Why not just ask for the directions on Twitter? Any computer-literate person knows that information is just a twitter - I mean, a tweet – away.

Tweeting was one of the ways many learned about Captain ‘Sully’ Sullenburger’s safe landing of US Airways Flight 1549 into the Hudson River, after both engines had been struck by birds. He even sparked a new phrase… Way to ‘land it in the Hudson,’ Sully!

What would Oprah have to say about all this? You have about one more year to ask. To the disappointment of millions, she announces this year is the last season of her show.

Wipe those tears from your eyes and put on some 3D glasses. It’s time to go see Avatar! The 500 million dollar blockbuster is making history as the most expensive movie ever made. If the storyline of Avatar is a predecessor for the future, I’m all smiles. Who wouldn’t want to welcome in the New Year with an aesthetically-proportioned blue giant trying to save the universe?

Happy New Year, everyone! We hope 2010 proves to be another year of getting your questions answered… on Answers.com, of course.

Hot Topic: Not just a store I used to shop at 10 years ago.

Hot topics are the Q&A categories everyone’s dying to get involved in… So where are you?

I’m sharing a sampling below - but make sure to check out the rest at http://wiki.answers.com.

Holiday Gift Giving * Twilight * Twitter * Justin Bieber * Herbal Medicine * Shakira * New Moon * Mafia Wars * Fantasy Football

Tweet tweet!

I’m assuming you’ve been following @Answersdotcom on Twitter, so I just thought I’d fill y’all in on how the magic happens:

Answers.com’s answers on Twitter are powered by ObjectiveMarketer

Ta da! ObjectiveMarketer is a social media application designed to give great feedback about who likes what your tweeting… and lots more.

So I hope you like what @AnswersDotCom is tweeting these days… And if you don’t, speak up and suggest!

Not only did @AnswersDotCom make this list of 100 Twitter Feeds That Teach You History, but the answerlicious Twitter account even made the top ten!

By the way, if you have been following @WikiAnswers on Twitter, you’ve been getting all kinds of updates and Q&As. If you want even more - including daily trivia - best to follow @AnswersDotCom, which is soon to become the main Twitter account for the world’s best answer engine.

Just sayin’.