Have a Question? Do the 'ChaCha'

June 10, 2008 — -- No question is too complicated, too bizarre or too random for ChaCha, a recently launched mobile answering service that promises quick and accurate answers to your inquiries via text message.

Wondering where the cheapest place to buy gas is in your city? ChaCha knows.

Want to know which team won the 1985 Super Bowl? ChaCha can tell you, so long as it can be done in 160 characters or less.

Anyone with a cell phone with text messaging capabilities can text a question to ChaCha (242-242 in numbers), and in minutes will receive an answer to their question. There is no charge for the service, though standard text message fees do apply.

"Using ChaCha is like having a smart friend around all the time," said Brad Bostic, president and co-founder of ChaCha, who launched the service in January 2008 with business partner Scott Jones.

But what Bostic says makes ChaCha different from other answering services like 4-1-1 or Google mobile is the human component.

"There is nobody that I've seen that delivers the kind of sophisticated solution that we have that really combines the human intelligence with the technology to provide accurate answers," Bostic told ABCNEWS.com.

Sarah Nickow, one of 10,000 ChaCha guides, has answered 1,523 questions since passing the application tests and getting hired at the site in March 2008. She estimates that she's made as much as $160 in one month – approximately twenty cents per question she answers.

"The first couple of months I worked for ChaCha I spent a lot of time on it – 10 to 12 hours a week – but this month I'll do less because I started going back to school," said Nickow, who said she chose to apply for ChaCha primarily because of its flexible work hours.

All Nickow has to do to report to work is log on to the ChaCha Web site and wait for a question to pop up on her screen.

Nickow responded to one question during her interview with ABCNEWS.com – one that asked if she liked pinecones.

Surprised by the question, Nickow reveled in her chance to show some personality – ChaCha instructs the guides to have some fun with the users, who don't know the identities of the guides.