Before the Internet, there were myriad problems in finding answers to questions. First, not all questions are socially acceptable to ask the general public. Next we couldn't garner many answers because we'd have to ask several friends or strangers with different backgrounds or knowledge bases, which is time consuming. Lastly, it was difficult to get someone you really wanted to answer your questions...how in the world were you planning on getting all the nitty gritty details about a software engineer's intense interview for Google or an honest opinion from hundreds of strangers if it is socially acceptable to let your daughter wear a bikini at age 9? Enter the world of social interaction based Q & A sites. And thank goodness for them. Here are the best free sites for finding the answers you crave. Both consumers and marketers alike can use these insights to gain access to consumer behavior within a specific space. Or let friends, strangers or experts help you make a personal decision, together. 1. Quora: Quora has evolved to be one of the best question and answer platforms out there if you are looking for experience-based responses and answers from real people like doctors, pilots, CEOs, painters and more. On Quora, a user can follow topics, specific people, questions and even their newest feature - boards. Quora combines aspects of many different sites. For example, one can upvote or downvote answers similar to Reddit, follow other users like on Twitter, subscribe to topics by "liking" pages on Facebook, among others. It is my favorite site to meander around (and notice that I didn't mention procrastinating or wasting time on, factors that go hand in hand with some other social websites) because I am truly learning about topics I take interest in on Quora: anything from social media marketing, startups in New York City, user experience, healthy eating, and even happiness. Their weekly email letter isn't annoying. It is a place for me to discover real life experiences and facts that I otherwise would have never known. Take a look around -- and your question just may be answered by Mark Zuckerberg, Cory Booker, Stephen Fry, Ashton Kutcher, Larry Summers, among many other celebrities or experts on Quora. 2. Twitter: Twitter may seem a little odd for this list considering it is not a sole question and answer site. However, using the "@" feature, you'll never know who may respond to your question; in other words, it's the best place to ask questions to the public to solicit answers. In some sense you are limited by your twitter followers. However, if you have someone in mind who you'd dream of answering your question - there's no one stopping you from sending an "@" mention. Of course, answers will be in 140 character tweets but if you are looking for many responses with short answers, Twitter is the place to do it. 3. Formspring: An overhauled version of the former social Q&A site launched yesterday, with a new focus on stirring conversations around users' interests. This is exciting because accompanying the new focus is a completely redesigned website, and soon-to-launch mobile version. The revamped site says it differentiates itself from a site like Quora or Stackoverflow because they are focused on opinions. In an interview with TechCrunch Formspring CEO Ade Olonoh says, "We've always seen questions as conversation starters more so than fact-based stuff." It is fun to peruse the most popular questions of the day. You can tag questions by interest and follow people similar to Twitter. The new website is live now.
4. Beepl: Beepl takes the best of your social media accounts - specifically Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn - and seamlessly connects them to Beepl's own social graph. Essentially, Beepl scrapes your newsfeed and profile to create this personalized social interest graph. The interest graph ensures that Beepl delivers relevant questions to you, without you ever having to search for them based on what your social media networks provide using specific technology of machine learning and natural language processing. Based on a user's "expertise" or interests, it is their hope that the right people answer your questions.
Jen Eisenberg, a rising junior at the University of Michigan, is a product marketing intern at Grovo, an online Internet training platform with video tutorials that helps people learn everything from Quora to Formspring. Jen loves the NYC tech startup scene and immerses herself in it on a daily basis.
5. Honestlynow: Although honestlynow is aimed at women ages 30 to 50 years old, honestlynow is a question and answer social game to help anyone make hard decisions easier. (Yes, I did say game: users vote on answers, with one eventual winner). Answers to questions are voted upon by users in an anonymous fashion for more honest advice. There are many experts on the site, if you want to consult them, but experts must apply and they are hand chosen. You decide who your question is going to -- friends, random anonymous users, specific experts or even teeming crowds. Honestlynow says they are "like a co*cktail party among friends, one glass of wine in." By skimming the question feed, my guess is that most questions revolve around relationships, personal image, parenting, and romance.
