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2011′s first HOT new social tool – What the hecks a ‘Quora’?

“A continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it”

Need a solution to your question? Quora, a nicely built social tool established in 2009, and launched in early 2010 (YES, it’s been around a year already!) is placing a bet that you will join their crew for more in-depth and personalized answers…turning your back on Yahoo! answers and the like.

On first trial, not too shabby I must say. It’s similar to Yahoo! answers (which I use as a frequent source when googling) and in a lot of cases BETTER.

Based on the recent explosion I have seen within the Quora community as well as via Twitter activity, this tool seems to be 2011′s first new BIG social buzz.

Here are some thoughts after using it for about a week:

1. Less repetition of answers vs. similar platforms
2. The quality of the answers seems to be of higher quality…more legit, if you will
3. Interface is nice and clean, maybe a little to perplexing for the average non ‘geek’
4. Think Facebook….ok this tool, it make questions into their own pages!
5. LOVE the vote up and down button feature
6. Quick Overview. Quora pulls the best answers right to the top and summarizes. Like your own info analyst!
7. You can edit/update peoples post. Think Wiki
8. You can ‘follow’ users and topics
9. It’s still currently being curated by early social adopters…this provides very detailed and rich content. The other strating list seems to be power players…CEOs and such
10. Honestly, the summary feature gives this item 2 mentions! In 5 seconds you have pulled the best info from the thread.
11. I think another big one is that Yahoo! and similar answer platforms have this feeling of anonymity…you get answers…but do you trust them? What is their background? Are they qualified?

 

Why do I think it could ultimately be VERY successful?

Because of the strong power of social sites like Facebook & Twitter today. Huh? Well ya see…Quora allows users to sign up/CONNECT with their Facebook or Twitter accounts. In 2011 we know everyone and their dog has an account on either or both. Facebook and Twitter accounts are for the most part (and becoming more so everyday) the most true representation of us on the internet. They are our ‘home’ on the net. They tie directly to our life and the lives connected to it. So….because of this tie, people are going to provide better answers. In social groups people will push to revise and tweak answers to make them the best they can be. I mean everyone wants to help, collaborate and show off their stuff while receiving the recognition and respect for doing the best job…that’s pretty much why the internet exploded! I want people to like me on the internet…if for nothing but a great Klout score  :)

Here is a quick 60 second video of Quora from Visual Alliance Media:

Are you using Quora? What are your initial thoughts? What could they do better?

Facebook Facts & Figures Infographic – Website-Monitoring.com

Came across this great infographic for Facebook facts & figures prepared by website-monitoring.com.

Data current as of 03/16/10.

Quick one pager with facts over the history of Facebook.