THE YEAR IN ASK 2006

You know us. We hate to exaggerate. So when we say this was Ask.com's biggest year ever, it's not just because it was Ask.com's FIRST year ever. It's because it was a year of milestones for us. To wit:

JANUARY:

Ask launched Image Search. The last major innovation of the Jeeves era. Image Search, and all its zoom links and search refinements, are still going strong. Jeeves, not so much.

FEBRUARY:

The New Ask.com debuted. Soon to become the standard by which all other butlerless search engines shall be judged. 

The Ask.com Launch Party kicked it off in style. Storm troopers, dancing battlebots, Barry Diller and more for a capacity crowd of 2000. The unveiling of Jeeves in carbonite spawned more camera phones than a Suri Cruise sighting.

Smart Answers got into Weather. Just typing your city or zip code and the word  "weather" gives you the conditions faster than looking out your window.

Maps and Directions hit the streets. Draggable push pins, multi-point directions, and more--all forming the basis for AskCity later in the year. We still recommend against using the aerial views and "buy photo" option to stalk ex-girlfriends.

MARCH:

The "Use Tools, Feel Human" campaign hit and hit big. The spots, created by agency Chiat/Day, helped to clear the last of Jeeves from the memories of the American public. PETA gave us their annual "Litterbox Award" for featuring a monkey in pants and implying he couldn't use a search engine. We apologize to clothed orangutans everywhere and invite them to use Ask.com all they want. And why isn't PETA going after the hotdog-eating bears?

APRIL:

Emoticon-to-English Smart Answers arrive. By typing in the emoticon and getting the answer on Ask, parents everywhere discover that their kids aren't swearing at them in code.

JUNE:

Blog & Feed Search kept you in the know. A delicious mix of ExpertRank and Bloglines, covered in a tasty Ask.com shell.  

We became the official search engine of NBC's "Treasure Hunters." This first foray into broadcast media integration tripled our site traffic. Partnerships with Miami Ink, The Ryder Cup, US Open and Fuse followed. Times Square search feed, anyone?

Smart Answers covered the World Cup. Type in "World Cup" and your country--get your team's name and pertinent info. We're pretty sure there's a "more traffic than a soccer riot" analogy to be made in there somewhere.

OCTOBER:

We made a huge splash at Digital Life 2006. The 900 Ask.com T-shirts distributed, 2500 live demos given, and 14,000 gift bags handed out paid off in sizable jumps in perception, familiarity and favorability. Not to mention some of the worst karaoke performances ever. 

DECEMBER:

AskCity launches, to massive positive media attention and usage. Who knew so many people were looking for a good local masseuse?

"How many days til Christmas" Smart Answer arrived. You probably know the answer to this one by now...unless you're reading this in 2007! It works for other holidays too.

That's not even counting Ask Mobile, tons of other Smart Answers, celebrations, partnerships, a year-end secret and a whole lot more. Bottom line:  Best Year Ever. Until the next one.

Happy New Year, everybody!

--The Ask.com Team