Qunu | live help when you need it most

Qunu | live help when you need it most, and it's true. This is one of those things that once you see it you think "How did I ever live without it?"

What's Qunu? Qunu is a next-generation expertise matching service. We use instant messaging to connect -- in real time -- people who have software or tech-related questions with experts who are passionate and willing to help.

I signed up today and I tried it out using Meebo, from my online office setup and within about an hour I actually had someone message me to ask me for help. If that doesn't cut it I later got an email from that same person thanking me for helping them out so much!

I'm all for helping people but the problem is that I've logged into about a dozen different services and websites to accomplish it and I feel I have to continuly go back and check all of them to ensure that I've not left anyone hanging. Well from now on I plan to tell all of them about this service, which doesn't require me to go to them.

How's it different to other ask-an-expert services? It's different to the ones you've seen because with Qunu you don't have to wait around for your answer. You can ask the expert directly and get your answer immediately. What's more, you can ask follow-up questions, again, in real time.

Also, if you're an expert in something and want to provide help to others, Qunu requests come in through your existing IM client software (finally!), so there's no need to monitor forums or websites anymore.

How to get some help NOW: Simply enter your query into the search field above. Qunu will return a list of experts who are online and possibly able to help. Please be polite and considerate of their time -- you're getting it for free.

How to get started as an expert: It's easy. First, add quser@qunu.com to your contact list in almost any Jabber-enabled IM client. Then, request authorization and follow the instructions given to 'tag' yourself with various topics.

I've already sent an email on to SDN to see what they all think as well.

Just this one line was a selling point for me:

so there's no need to monitor forums or websites anymore

What's even cooler is that this works with almost any Jabber-enabled IM client and right now on SDN, Piers Harding has just released a blog related to Jabber as well. OK a bit of a tangent but still very interesting! I mean how interesting would that be to get a service like Qunu integrated into your R/3 or NetWeaver system for your entire user base? Might make your job and life a whole heck of a lot easier - not to mention your support desk. Can we say "no more how do I do that in Excel".

Ok I've started to rant and ramble here so I'll bring this to a close.