Knowledge database Quora lures Australians

Renai LeMay
Monday, 17 January 2011 09:30

IT Industry - Market

Not all next-generation web applications built in the rarefied atmosphere of California's Silicon Valley successfully make it big on the global stage. For every Google, Facebook and YouTube, there are hundreds of also-rans; online innovators which are received with a universal 'meh' by the global community.

Not so with Quora. International use of the site has exploded over the past few months as the social knowledge sharing site has gone viral '” and Australians have not proven immune to its charm, as the nation slowly works out how Quora's innovative knowledge database can be used Down Under.

Like previous social networking giants Twitter and Facebook, Quora allows users to follow each other, as well as specific topics. And knowledge sharing sites have been built successfully online before '” the most famous example is probably Wikipedia, but before the site was founded in 2001, Slashdot-associated site Everything2 started making waves with knowledge sharing back in 1998 and is still popular.

However, where Quora differs is that it forces users to interact via a highly structured question and answer format. Anyone can post any question, and anyone can respond to any question. But Quora only allows each user a single response to each question, and the site is geared towards avoiding the duplication of information, as well as prioritising useful responses.

Some of the most popular Quora questions so far about Australia have related to common national tropes which many have debated about the land Down Under for years. 22 responses have been garnered so far, for example, to the question of why Australians tended to be more attractive than British people, despite sharing much of the same genetic material.