• CNet, Wednesday, January 12, 2011 1:54 PM

Question-and-answer service Formspring has raised $11.5 million in a Series A venture round. The startup has also launched a "Respond" button, which lets site owners use Formspring to solicit input or answers from their audiences as a more distributed sort of take on Internet commenting. As CNet reports, "It's been a volatile year for Formspring, a question-and-answer service that saw lightning-fast growth in the wake of its November 2009 launch but also controversy and scorn as it was criticized for harboring high levels of spam and nasty anonymous bullying."

The new Respond button lets anyone with Web site connect to Formspring's community, while giving the company an increasingly larger online footprint. The goal, founder and CEO Ade Olonoh tells CNet, is to "reach a broader audience and extend the Formspring experience." At launch, partner sites include AskMen.com, The Huffington Post, and IGN, all of whom have already integrated the Formspring Respond button.

Read the whole story at CNet »