Why Quora Is Useful (and Addictive)

Crowdsourced Q&A Community Builds a Knowledge Repository

February 3, 2011

Social media platforms go viral in waves as new users become fans and spread the word. The Quora wave hit my social network in early 2011, although this Q&A site has been active since 2009. All of a sudden I began to receive invitations from people I respect to join specific Quora discussions.

Is the Quora wave a temporary flash flood? Or does it have staying power? I believe that Quora may continue to gain momentum and to become a more and more valuable resource.

A Web site search or a visit to Wikipedia will give you access to information. A question posed on Quora is more likely to yield an actionable and well-informed answer.

How, why, and when might you use Quora? How might your customers use it? What do you need to “do” about it?

NETTING IT OUT

Social media platforms go viral in waves as new users become fans and spread the word. The Quora wave hit my social network in early 2011, although this Q&A site has been active since 2009. All of a sudden I began to receive invitations from people I respect to join specific Quora discussions.

Is the Quora wave a temporary flash flood? Or does it have staying power? I believe that Quora may continue to gain momentum and to become a more and more valuable resource.

You use Quora to ask and answer thoughtful questions thoughtfully. There are three things that make it useful:

1. The caliber of the people who are asking and answering questions.
2. The question and answer format, so you can get a specific answer to a specific question.
3. The community’s upvoting so that the best and most informative answers rise to the top.

A Web site search or a visit to Wikipedia will give you access to information. A question posed on Quora is more likely to yield an actionable and well-informed answer.

There are many Q&A discussion fora on the Web, including Yahoo! Answers, Facebook Q&A, WikiAnswers, Aardvark (now owned by Google), and well over a dozen others. Quora is currently distinguished by the quality of its participants, the quality of the dialogue that takes place, and the continuous updates that the community provides. It’s a useful tool for businesspeople and professionals because it’s not cluttered up by a bunch of bozos.

Quora

Finding and adding people to your social network on Quora is similar to Facebook or Twitter. You start with folks you know. (Esther Dyson and I know one another) and you then follow people from their network.