If you’ve got questions that need answering and Google’s results don’t appeal to the personal nature of your query, the team behind app Opinionaided thinks it has the solution. Opinionaided — available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad — has created a web community of (probably) bored people who want to answer your questions and give you advice in real time.
To join Opinionaided, you’ll either need to authorize the app to connect with your Facebook, or you’ll need to create an Opinionaided account. Tap “Ask” to submit a question or “Vote” to weigh in on other people’s submissions. When you’re creating your question, you’ll be required to attach an image, but you can also specify what category you want the question to appear in. You can also set parameter for which users can see the query — the entire public or only males/females or users of a certain age. If you have friends using Opinionaided, you can also select to send the question to only them.
Opinionaided’s questions and answers are certainly of varying quality, but there’s no question that its user base is devoted and present. For my test, I asked the users reading the “Apps, Technology & Gadgets” category if they found Opinionaided to be useful. Within seconds, I had my first responses, viewable in the “Results” tab, or they can be sent to you via “Push.” I deleted the query after five minutes, but during the time it was live, I received 29 votes, including six comments.
When you’re voting on the public’s questions, you can also set parameters for yourself, such as seeing questions only from certain age ranges (there are a lot of kids using the service, and their “Am I hot?” questions might not bring comfort) and only from certain categories. The filters require that users complete their profiles accurately, so this is no guarantee you’ll avoid the younger or older crowds. “Neutral” is Opinionaided’s closest equivalent to a “Skip” button, but it’s not ideal, as there’s no way to bypass a question, Answering “Neutral” still puts you in the list of user responses the question-asker sees, and gives him or her access to whatever profile information you’ve provided.
The best answer I received was that, despite the user giving a thumbs-up, Opinionaided wasn’t particularly useful, but was a good time-waster. That about sums it up.
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