The Quora Button: Coming to a Website Near You
BankSimple has a Quora button on their homepage, see above. Today, basically every consumer-oriented website boasts a Facebook and Twitter “button” on their homepage. The basic incentive for brands to do this are to (1) engage with existing/potential customers and (2) to monitor feedback loops to control any collateral damage resulting from social media. There are so many users on these networks (and for the most part, Twitter is free), that brands have no alternative but to engage in this way. In 2011, another “button” will make its way on to homepages very soon, the Quora button. For brands, having a “Quora button” is a good idea. One reason Quora has fared so well in Silicon Valley, where new social network sites pop up often, is that it authenticates user identities (via Facebook Connect) and allows users to follow individuals, topics, or specific questions about people and/or topics. The “topics” in this case could be brands (like Target, Apple, etc.) and when users ask questions, the Quora site categorizes them within a taxonomy, both by machine and human editing. For instance, a brand that users love to hate — Comcast — has an entire Quora page (www.quora.com/comcast) that is followed by 73 individuals and has a number of questions and answers already organized under this topic. It’s not hard to imagine influential people launching a targeted campaign against a company policy, or for them to do something more positive, such as engage in dialog about a great new company or product (like BankSimple). As much as older brands may resist, the rising tide behind Quora’s popularity will reward those businesses who choose to embrace this trend rather than learn lessons the hard way, too late. (And, lo and behold, you can download an unofficial Quora button right here, thanks AJ Kohn!)