The new tool, located at http://www.jabbits.com, allows members of the Jabbits community to upload video of questions to which they are seeking answers, from webcams, mobile phones or camcorders. The free service allows other users to view those questions and upload answers, or ask questions of their own.

This is an innovative approach that allows companies to transform user-generated video into business information

Jabbits users have the option to record a Public Question, posted to the entire community, or record a Private Question where answers are solicited in a private, invitation-only environment. Jabbits has been designed to bridge two fast-growing online categories - engaging video sites and interactive Q&A sites -- and represents the first truly-integrated service of its kind.

"The online question and answer space has gained dramatic traction over the past year," said Ben Little, a co-founder of Jabbits. "Several well-known companies have launched successful Q&A sites, but none have combined interactive user-generated video. Jabbits is entertaining, but it is much more than that. It engages users in a format that prompts answers to their questions in face-to-face interaction instead of a text-only format. Adding the human element establishes credibility that text-based sites can never achieve."

Jabbits' principals, Steve Babb, Ben Little and John Williamson, said they see the Jabbits format as the future of interactive Q&A in a user-generated video environment that will continue to win rapidly adoption across the web.

Ground-breaking New Market Research
Beyond its entertainment and direct communications value, Jabbits provides cutting-edge opportunities for companies of all sizes to tap a webcam-enabled community for qualitative market research. As an example, companies can post questions in the "Research Questions" section of Jabbits. Potential respondents then fill out a questionnaire to assess how well they meet specified demographic criteria. If they qualify, they are paid to answer Research Questions.

"This is an innovative approach that allows companies to transform user-generated video into business information," said Steve Babb. "Jabbits is cost-effective, allowing rapid market research with turn-around time measured in hours instead of days, weeks or even months. Jabbits offers Fortune 500 companies an effective solution, but it also opens unique research opportunities and strategies for smaller enterprises that have until now been unable to afford more expensive forms of qualitative research. "

Unlike other video sites, Jabbits does not rely on advertising sales to generate revenue, Babb said.

Jabbits Montage Offers Wide Array of Options
Unique to Jabbits is an innovative feature that elegantly displays each user's question, along with an interactive montage of related answers. The montage provides smooth, organized and engaging visitor access, and represents a new video framework for delivering a wide variety of Q&A applications.

"We see lots of application for the montage" said John Williamson. "On the consumer side, it can be added into any MySpace page or personal blog. On the business side, media companies can drive traffic through Q&A between on-air personalities and Jabbits visitors. Political campaigns looking for grass-roots feedback will find this montage a compelling way to harness the power of user-generated Q&A video. The list is virtually endless."

Jabbits' Scalable Infrastructure Built on Webcam Innovations
Jabbits' founders designed and developed the Flash-based recorder, uploader software and back-end systems that power the site. The proprietary Jabbits system connects directly to a user's webcam to record content and enables them to upload video from digital cameras and mobile devices. Users can rate, email and even embed the Jabbits tool on their MySpace page, blog or website.

"We designed Jabbits around a unique combination of Flash and high-volume back-end systems that allow us to collect demographic user data on-the-fly, record or upload their video, convert the files, and encode and optimize the content from a variety of different video file formats in minutes," Williamson said. "During the first week our site was active we successfully recorded several hundred questions and answers and served more than 13,000 videos to our site visitors. We are excited about our infrastructure's performance to date and are confident in Jabbits' future scalability."

About Jabbits - Jabbits is based in Evergreen, Colorado, west of Denver, and is a provider of professional qualitative research. The firm, founded in 2006, provides business and other demographic market research on a global basis.