Question and answer based services have existed for literally centuries. However, just like everything else, they've notably advanced from the days when letters were required to pass messages "quickly". One of the most recent advancements has been brought to task by ChaCha.ChaCha is an SMS (short message service) based question-answer service. What does that mean? It means that people all over the United States can text in their questions via phone, or call in, or ask via online systems, and receive an answer within minutes!

It sounds impossible. It sounds unbelievable, but it's true! Questioners- or "Info Seekers" as guides affectionately call them, can text or call in with their cell phones. Calls are always free, and texts only cost after the Info Seeker has texted a certain amount of times for free. As a result of its pricing structure, ChaCha has quickly become a pioneer in its field. But how does ChaCha consistently answer questions? With the help of normal every day people like you, called guides! Now you can learn not only about their job, but how much they get paid and how you can become one!

ChaCha guides are, as stated earlier, completely normal every day people. Becoming one is easy; you sign up at ChaCha's main website. After entering your basic information, like your name, age, and phone number and email address, you'll be able to select which guide role you will want to test for.

There are four guide roles currently:

1. Generalist- These are paired with Specialists normally, but for the purposes of simplicity, will be explained separately. Generalists answer a wide variety of questions that are sent to them. They perform their job slower than most other guide roles because they must research answers that are not category specific. They must provide a link to the place they researched and got the answer from.

2. Specialists- Like Generalists, they must provide a link to their resource when providing an answer. They specialize in one or two categories, however, and so are marginally faster at researching answers.

3. Expediter- Expediters are the first line of defense when concerning incoming text queries. An Expediter will receive a text query and examine it. If the answer has already been given before and is in ChaCha's answer database, then the expediter will answer like they were a Generalist (but with all the work already done by ChaCha's answer database). If the question is not a previously answered question, then an Expediter will succinct the question, make it look professional instead of like text speak or some such, and send it to a Generalist.

4. Transcriber- Transcribers do just what you would expect- they take called in questions and type them up as precisely as possible in the shortest time possible. It sounds easy, but some questions can be very difficult to decipher via the phone.

When testing for a guide role, there is a general knowledge test which you can take repeatedly until you pass, but it isn't difficult. After you pass the general knowledge test, you're a Guide! Well, almost. In truth, the general knowledge only allowed you to become a sort of apprentice guide. As an apprentice, you will take on the task of watching videos and reading documents telling you about your selected role. A Generalist will have a different set of information than an Expediter to study. Regardless of your role, all roles have tailor made tests for the end of the study session.

After you have studied up, you better be ready because you will only get 1 shot to pass the "Readiness Test" as ChaCha calls it. This test is a hands on use of ChaCha's question and answer software. You should know everything up to this point, however, so it's not much trouble.

After passing you'll be an official ChaCha guide! No matter what guide role you choose, it become very fulfilling answering the questions people text in, from directions to their horoscope, or even asking for friendly jokes for a laugh. ChaCha guideship is very fulfilling even without compensation. Make no mistake, however, as there is compensation! You can make money online with ChaCha by working consistently! Generalist and Specialists are paid the most per query- they earn $0.10 with a $0.20 incentive! However, their job requires research, which can take up to two minutes. In comparison, Expediters and Transcribers only make $0.03 per query, but can get several queries transcribed or succinct in a minute! This averages out to $3-$6 per hour, depending on your speed.

It may not sound like much, but with the flexibility and ease ChaCha provides, it becomes a pretty cool job!