Google Answers no longer responding

Google has decided to close its Google Answers service at the end of 2006. This is an integral part of any innovator’s skills and destruction is as necessary as invention.

Questions posted to date will still be on the service, but Google will stop answering any more questions later this year, according to a post on Google’s official blog.

Google Answers launched in 2002 and was set up by a four-person team to answer the world’s questions. These questions have subsequently been answered by a group of more than 800 people committed to helping people.

Some of the questions that people have answered are; How tall is Durmot Murnaghan? and How do you kill a cockroach?

Does this mean that Google is not innovating or has problems? Certainly not! One thing innovators like Google know and understand is that innovation is not just about invention, it’s also about destruction. If an invention doesn’t take off, why try to keep it flying? Even giants like Google understand that without destruction you will never truly be a leading innovator.

The service is still accepting questions, but with some of the most recent questions posted asking where the answers are, chances are you won’t get an answer. Responses published to date will also be available online. So while the service stops to answer any new questions, you will still be able to find answers to previous questions.

While it is sad to see a Google service disappear, the resources freed up by not supporting this service will surely provide Google with an additional resource in the field of invention.

If you’d like to read additional material on this, visit Matt Cutts’ post on RIP, Google Answers

Also, if YOU think there are other Google services or any other web service that deserves the certificate of destruction, please let us know.