[myNetWords.com] : Quora

Quora

Updated : Friday 4 February 2011

Quora is the name of a new social network, brought to my attention by Kathrin Schurrer, which is currently generating a lot of buzz on the web. Quora was started by some old hands on Facebook, who describe it as the social network for knowledge. This is a new concept on the web, being a mixture of a social network and a chatroom or forum.

Quora is, in practice, a forum because it provides a space where its members can ask questions on topics that interest them, whether personal or work-related, and receive answers from other Quora members. As a member, you can put questions or reply to questions from others. These questions and answers are classified by topic and stored. You can search by typing a key word on the website, which will give you all the answers to questions Quora members have asked on that subject. Answers are classified by order of popularity, with the highest-rated appearing at the top of the page. If you select the topics that interest you, all the questions and answers posted on that topic will appear on your home page. The messages come straight to you, without you having to search. You’ll be sent a message telling you that someone has added a question relating to yours, and you will also be able to see who is following your question.

Quora is a social network in that it is a collaborative website, with each member taking part either by asking questions, or answering them, or posting a comment on a reply. Most of all, Quora enables you to broaden the circle of people you know and of your contacts, because you can enter into virtual contact (initially at any rate) with other members who share your interests and opinions. On Quora, nothing you post in the form of questions or answers is anonymous, as you are identified. In fact, all members post a mini-bio and an avatar that appears each time they make a contribution. This means you have some idea of the person who is answering your question or asking an interesting question of his or her own, which facilitates interactive dialogue. You can "follow" a member, as on twitter, in other words receive all the messages that person sends.

Quora likes to think of itself as elitist, and you must be sponsored by an existing member to join the network, as well as having accounts on Twitter and Facebook. But it’s free to join.

The Telegraph recently remarked that Quora was going to be bigger than Twitter. That is perfectly possible. Quora has a lot to offer, not only to individuals but professionals as well. There is no obligation to be active on Quora, as you can use it simply as a monitoring tool, to see what members of Quora think about your company or your competitors, for instance. All you do is choose the name of your company as the topic you wish to follow, to be kept informed of the questions and answers your group is generating.

That said, you would do well to take an active part in the exchanges, either by asking questions (which saves time and builds your knowledge base) or answering them. Quora is a good way of promoting your own expertise: a couple of to-the-point answers in your fields of competence and you will quickly become a sought-after "expert". You might even attract the attention of the media, who have become addicted to Quora, or of leading websites like Mashable. Best of all, you can express yourself at length if you wish: unlike Twitter, Quora doesn’t impose a limit on the length of your messages. You can post a 3-page answer if you feel like it, but you won’t necessarily get the best rating. Finally, with Quora you are practically sure to "meet your public". The whole idea of Quora is "inverse blogging", in other words, instead of blogging and asking yourself if anyone is going to be interested in what you’ve posted, with Quora, you are replying to a question someone has asked, so your public is already there, awaiting your answer. That’s good to know. Quora is part of the highly successful trend towards crowdsourcing, in the sense that it allows people to contribute on a voluntary basis to building up our skills and knowledge. It seems the media are increasingly using Quora for information and witnesses when investigating a particular topic. Quora is beginning to sound like the answer to all our prayers: wouldn’t it be great if it could finalise your marketing plan, for instance, or help your teenage daughter solve a quadratic equation or get a really good job…