WebProNews

This week, Google launched a gadget for Google Friend Connect that encourages visitors to ask questions from the community as well as answer questions posted by others. In other words, this is a gadget that can potentially get people more engaged while visiting your site.

The "Get Answers" gadget lets site members do the following:

- Ask questions, submit answers, and vote on the answers they think are the best

- Read other questions and answers from the community, sorted by popularity or date

- Quickly view only their own questions to see the answers they've received

- See what Google search says about their question

"With the Get Answers gadget, new members can ask questions and get up to speed quickly, current members can share information relevant to your site topic or other topics of interest to them, and you (the site owner) can learn more about the interests of your community, which can help you tailor your content to your visitors' needs," explains Social App Developer Barry Welch on Google's Social Web Blog. "As the site owner, you remain in full control and can moderate the gadget by deleting any inappropriate questions or answers."

He also points to a sample site that is set up so you can see the gadget in action. More information about it is also available here.