According to Search Engine Watch, Yahoo! Answers is becoming an important online social space as well as a Web 2.0 phenomenon. The idea behind Yahoo! Answers is a simple one: users post questions and other users answer them. When there are several answers to the question, users vote on the best answer. Already, there are more than 10 million answers posted and Yahoo! Answers now ranks as the third largest reference site on the Web, trailing only Wikipedia and Dictionary.com. By some estimates, 4.2% of all U.S. Internet users have visited the service at least once.

So, what does all this have to do with innovation? Plenty, it turns out. Not only is the concept for the site innovative, but it looks like a number of Yahoo! users are interested in the idea of business innovation. Below, I’ve cut-and-pasted some of the questions and answers about innovation that have appeared on the Yahoo! Answers site:

Q: How does innovation help a business?

A: Innovation expands business. Where there was nothing, there is now something. This something may create new jobs, or make people look at business models in a different way that may cut costs and/or raise profits. Innovation can be refreshing, taking something that is old and stagnant, and make people recognize it again as a viable resource. Without innovation, business could only be transacted between a limited amount of people, and what kind of business would that be?

Q: What is your definition of innovation?

A: Innovation is a scientific approach for finding newer better ideas and solutions to problems, which make life easier and simpler to live!

Q: What is the difference between creativity and innovation? Give examples.

A: Creativity is shown when you do something original and start from scratch. Innovation is shown when you improve or make an addition to something that’s already there.

Tags: YahooAnswers innovation

[image: Yahoo! Answers in Times Square via Flickr]