Talk about irony: Although we’re living through a financial crisis that we created ourselves, Google is touting the so-called “wisdom of the crowds” to offer financial help. That’s the premise behind today’s announcement of TipJar.

TipJar is sorta like Yahoo Answers, only without the questions. It’s people submitting answers to the question, How can I save money? It’s also sorta like reddit, in that users can vote up or down on each tip. But as much as anything else, it seems like a working demo for Google Moderator.

It’s an interesting experiment and shows off Moderator’s capabilities quite well. Whether or not TipJar itself remains interesting will depend on the user contributions and quality of the financial advice. From a quick look around tonight, some of that advice seems useful…

… and some not so much.

Related Topics: Google: Moderator

About The Author: Matt McGee is Search Engine Land's Executive News Editor, responsible for overseeing our daily news coverage. His news career includes time spent in TV, radio, and print journalism. His web career continues to include a small number of SEO and social media consulting clients, as well as regular speaking engagements at marketing events around the U.S. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and can be found on Twitter at @MattMcGee and/or on Google Plus. See more articles by Matt McGee