What is up with the hype around Quora? And what the heck is Quora? In a nutcake, Quora is like Wikipedia except for questions and answers. Quora is a place where you can ask questions and have them answered by by the masses but there is a consensus component. People can vote on the answers, even suggest edits for the answers and even edit the questions themselves which is a little scary.
But it has a social aspect that Wikipedia doesn’t have. You have followers and following. You can follow subjects, you can follow questions, you can follow people. All the things you are following end up in your stream.
Do we really need another social site? Will Quora be bigger than Twitter? Does this site have any staying power? These are questions I want to ask. So far most of the questions that get any traction are technology-based questions. It’s a great place to get your technology questions answered. Other than that, I’m not sure what this site may be good for.
One thing I like about Quora is their basic principles:
1. Make the site a great resource for people who want to learn.
2. Be nice
3. Explain why.
Seems like some good basics. Keep your eye on Quora. We haven’t heard the last about it. And feel free to ask me a question: http://www.quora.com/Grandma-Mary Or you can ask me a question on Facebook. Or ask me on Twitter, e-mail, blog comments, or what the heck – give me an old fashioned phone call!
Nice overview.
So bottom line, will it help me sell my products and services? Can I drive traffic to my site? Assuming of course that I’m adding real value to Quora. I feel that Twitter is my coffee shop, FB is my community centre, and my website is my sales office. What is Quora? The library?
I’ve tried the Linked In questions and I feel sometimes that people ask questions because they’re too lazy to do any proper research, and their questions are laughable because of this as well, especially in the so-called “Professional Photography” groups I’ve been in. It’s all “gimme, gimme” and “how much should I charge”? I stopped answering questions there because of that. It was a waste of my time to read them. (Sorry to be so harsh.)
Nice overview.
So bottom line, will it help me sell my products and services? Can I drive traffic to my site? Assuming of course that I’m adding real value to Quora. I feel that Twitter is my coffee shop, FB is my community centre, and my website is my sales office. What is Quora? The library?
I’ve tried the Linked In questions and I feel sometimes that people ask questions because they’re too lazy to do any proper research, and their questions are laughable because of this as well, especially in the so-called “Professional Photography” groups I’ve been in. It’s all “gimme, gimme” and “how much should I charge”? I stopped answering questions there because of that. It was a waste of my time to read them. (Sorry to be so harsh.)
Thanks Marlene! I think your analogy of Quora being the library is a nice one. It’s a place to give and get information and research. Think of it as Google for question and answers. Sometimes when you Google something, you don’t get a “unbiased answer” because someone is trying to sell something. On Quora, it will be more of a group consensus and will be harder to “sell” and spam.
So that brings you to your question, will it help you sell stuff? I think Quora will help establish experts for those people who take the time to participate often there. But there’s that time factor. Great thoughts – thanks!
Thanks Marlene! I think your analogy of Quora being the library is a nice one. It’s a place to give and get information and research. Think of it as Google for question and answers. Sometimes when you Google something, you don’t get a “unbiased answer” because someone is trying to sell something. On Quora, it will be more of a group consensus and will be harder to “sell” and spam.
So that brings you to your question, will it help you sell stuff? I think Quora will help establish experts for those people who take the time to participate often there. But there’s that time factor. Great thoughts – thanks!
I signed up for Quora a while back but haven’t tried it for a while. My initial impression was that it was an “influence building” site. In other words, most people were going there to show off how “connected” they were and their knowledge of Silicon Valley. That’s fine if you want to schmooze with the Tech Set, but not so great if you have other goals…like having a basic question answered.
I just went back in to look around and it’s kind of fragmented and slow. This has the potential to be the go-to place for answering questions but it needs to improve the way it allows questions to be asked. For now, I’ll keep using LinkedIn Answers but will keep my eye on Quora. Thanks for the post!
I signed up for Quora a while back but haven’t tried it for a while. My initial impression was that it was an “influence building” site. In other words, most people were going there to show off how “connected” they were and their knowledge of Silicon Valley. That’s fine if you want to schmooze with the Tech Set, but not so great if you have other goals…like having a basic question answered.
I just went back in to look around and it’s kind of fragmented and slow. This has the potential to be the go-to place for answering questions but it needs to improve the way it allows questions to be asked. For now, I’ll keep using LinkedIn Answers but will keep my eye on Quora. Thanks for the post!
Okay, Grandma Mary — your video piqued my curiosity so I took a stroll on over to Quora to check it out. I’m now following you there.
I’ll agree that it’s a little “slow” and I’m not certain it’s going to help my social media marketing efforts but …
It does look like a good place to do some “research”. Like Marlene, I’ll just think of Quora as the “library” for the time being until I’ve had a chance to find my way around there a little bit better.
Thanks for sharing a new resource with us — I had never heard of Quora until I landed here.
Okay, Grandma Mary — your video piqued my curiosity so I took a stroll on over to Quora to check it out. I’m now following you there.
I’ll agree that it’s a little “slow” and I’m not certain it’s going to help my social media marketing efforts but …
It does look like a good place to do some “research”. Like Marlene, I’ll just think of Quora as the “library” for the time being until I’ve had a chance to find my way around there a little bit better.
Thanks for sharing a new resource with us — I had never heard of Quora until I landed here.
Thanks Jesse – I think you are right on the money! We’ll see if they make it more for just the techno geeks (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) or more for the masses.
Thanks Jesse – I think you are right on the money! We’ll see if they make it more for just the techno geeks (and I mean that in the nicest possible way) or more for the masses.
Thanks Melanie! Always good to find new sites – as long as they can be useful. At this point I don’t think I’ll be checking in on this every day. Maybe just every once in awhile.
Thanks Melanie! Always good to find new sites – as long as they can be useful. At this point I don’t think I’ll be checking in on this every day. Maybe just every once in awhile.
Quora is not much different than Aardvark or Answers. Quora is just a Silicon Valley fad. Why do the tech “main stream” media always for fall for the marketing spin and hype of Silicon Valley? Frankly this elitist thinking just propels bad products and enrich the rich even richer. For a true experience that is unique there is a better site called Koowie. Koowie connects people based on each of our thoughts but is in a question format so it can act as a Q&A site but much more. http://www.koowie.com.
Quora is not much different than Aardvark or Answers. Quora is just a Silicon Valley fad. Why do the tech “main stream” media always for fall for the marketing spin and hype of Silicon Valley? Frankly this elitist thinking just propels bad products and enrich the rich even richer. For a true experience that is unique there is a better site called Koowie. Koowie connects people based on each of our thoughts but is in a question format so it can act as a Q&A site but much more. http://www.koowie.com.
Is there other life out there?