Quora is also known as the ‘lovechild’ between Wikipedia and Yahoo! Answers.
Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia never fails to help anyone in need of a (quick) definition, description and/or some background information. I compared it to Quora, an interactive Q and A website, to see whether it could compete with Wikipedia.
Quora (www.quora.com) is a website where people can ask and answer each others questions about everything. It is an online oracle where there is interaction between the asker and the answerer. The idea behind Quora is that social connections contribute to more answered questions. When signed in, which can only be done with a Google, Facebook or Twitter account, one can immediately search for answers to questions.
Besides specific questions there are also subject headings (topics) created by users. These topics can be edited (with new information) and added to posed questions involving the same theme. By commenting on answers there is the possibility to clarify and introduce inaccuracies. There can also be voted for the best answer, which makes it seem that a higher amount of votes correlate with a better answer.
The interface of Quora looks a lot like Facebook’s newsfeed, which is not weird knowing that two former employees of Facebook have founded Quora in 2011. Quora users can follow other users, topics and (specific) questions to receive updates and information in their own ‘news’ feed.
It is obvious that even though both of these platforms grow and exist because of people all around the world who share their knowledge and seek even more knowledge online. Wikipedia has grown in a short amount of time to be one of most consulted online information sources. Now a days everything is linked to one’s social media network, it is all about sharing. But will their lack of interactivity scrag them?
