What can you ask at Google Answers? You can ask about the history of France, how Spam was invented or who Pilates was. Just don't pose a question about Google -- the company -- itself. Why? Because Google Answers is staffed by non-Google employees. This should come as no surprise to anyone -- it's just a way to keep the brand that is Google on the tips of customer tongues at all times.

In a world where Google seems to keep tight reign on all its web-based products and web properties, why would they outsource Google Answers? Simple -- they're providing a service that's non-core (but brand-building) to the overall Google strategy (I think) and taking a cut of each answer provided. Oh yeah, Google Answers costs money, unlike most other Google web offerings.

It appears to me that Google Answers are provided to those who have more money than time (and time is the most valued commodity, is it not?), since my guess is that the independent contractors who service customers at Google Answers probably use Google's search engine to find answers to customer's questions. Pretty interesting guess (and situation), but I'll be that is how is plays out. I would be curious to see if Google makes a decent profit with this service -- which probably costs them nothing. But, a 10% or 15% commission on each $2.50 query -- times possibly millions of queries per day -- would be a nice addition to Google's coffers.