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K-State Today

May 25, 2011

More than a search engine: Quora

Submitted by K-State IT editor

Quora is not the next great search engine. Although at first glance you might think that is exactly what it is. No, instead, Quora is an attempt to fill in all the spaces left untouched by Wikipedia. Founded by former Facebook engineers Adam D’Angelo and Charlie Cheever, Quora seeks to tie a question-and-answer format to the social framework of the Web.

Joining Quoria is as easy as logging in to Facebook or Twitter. In fact, signing in to Quora immediately links these accounts together with your Quora account.

Once you start using Quora, you will quickly discover how truly different an experience it is. You can search questions, keywords, topics, and even people who are also using Quora. But, instead of receiving a direct answer, you are given a list of the most recent questions revolving around your search.

  • From that point, you can browse through the responses.
  • More than that, you can create a personal feed that allows you to follow questions, topics, and/or people.
  • You are also given the opportunity to aid in the discussions by adding comments and rating responses to questions.

To truly tap into the power of Quora, however, you need to join in on the discourse. Asking meaningful questions and contributing insightful answers is where the social capital that is Quora is generated.

Be forewarned, though; Quora is still very much in its infancy. Stray too far from the topics on technology and you will be forging into new territory.