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Tag Archives | Quora

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8 Predictions About Social Media in 2012

2012 Social Media Predictions - The Anti-Social MediaHappy 2012! It’s a new year for marketers to mine more data from our user profiles on social networks. More hyper-targeted ads! How exciting!

Because the internet is fueled on rumors and nonsense, here’s what will happen in 2012. If it doesn’t happen, well it will all be ok. I think.

  • Facebook will change once more, and everyone will hate it. - We all know it will change, and it will suck balls.
  • Twitter will get even worse - Monetizing Twitter will take over idea to allow users to share meaningful messages. Twitter will become filled with crappy more 140 character ads, spambots, and insightful hashtags like #mydickinthreewords. Twitter will only hang on because the mass media will give it more hype than it deserves.
  • Nobody except job seekers and self-absorbed, so-called assholes experts will care about LinkedIn. Oh, and Betty from HR will like it as well. But it’s her job to care about LinkedIn.
  • Google+ will either make it or fail miserably - Time to put up or shut up Google.
  • Quora will go away -  Seriously, it’s still here?
  • There will be at least 20 new social networks that claim to be “Facebook Killers” - No one sane will use them besides Linux users and Android elitists.
  • The entire internet will be absorbed in baseless iPhone rumors - Because our entire existence and worth as a human is based solely on successfully predicting a mobile phone we’ll use for a year until the next one comes out.
  • There will be at least one viral cat video - Wait. There will be hundreds. And they will be the best ones ever.

Honestly, most of that is just expansions of what happened in 2011, but who am I kidding? It’s not like someone will be clever enough to make a successfully monetized social network without a newsfeed and a slew of advertising. That’s just too creative.

So here’s to 2012.  May my Facebook newsfeed be ever filled with sponsored stories!

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Whatever happened to Quora?

Quora VS Yahoo Answers - a Venn DiagramRemember Quora?

Yeah, that Quora. I know. It’s been a while.

Quora was a social media hype darling earlier this year because it was basically a cleaner version of Yahoo Answers that Robert Scoble wouldn’t stop answering questions on. Everyone thought it was the next big thing, and every other “social media expert” was on there trying to make the other “experts” look stupider then they were.

That’s what I call thought leadership.

Quora is now a barren wasteland. The content that appears at the top of my feed is from December and January, almost a full year ago. The topics are no longer relative or timely, and I doubt anyone is still pointing to answers from AOL’s Steve Case as a reason to go hangout on Quora.

We can only relive the 1990s and 56k modems for so long.

I feel bad for Quora. It’s likely going to die a slow and painful death, failing to monetize and keep users interested. The fact is we don’t need a social network to ask random questions and pray that we get “expert” answers. Google does a pretty good job of finding the information you need, or we can use our existing social networks to ask the same questions of the same people.

Yes, you can use your social networks to ask questions. Isn’t that charming and novel?

So, goodbye, Quora. It was good while the hype lasted, but we’ve all got better things to do. My aunt just posted some cute photos of her new puppies on Facebook. That’s way more interesting than self-promoting “experts” trying to trump one another on a social network no one cares about.

Are you still using Quora? Is anyone? And what are you wearing to the funeral? I don’t want to be caught wearing the same thing as anyone else.

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Who Still Cares About Quora?

I looked through my bookmarks and found Quora was still hanging out there. Does anyone use it? Anyone?

Is this a stupid question I should ask on Quora? Will the experts there have any answer that makes sense and will fill my head with knowledge. Or it just turn into a self-promotional fight of social media expert ninja gurus trying to prove to me that they are on Quora so I need to be on Quora or social media as we know it will become meaningless and useless.

Is Anyone Here - The Anti-Social Media

Screw it. I’m going to hang out of Twitter where the self-promotional bullshit doesn’t come in the form of an answer.

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My Second Analysis of Quora

After my initial encounter with Quora, the question and answer site that is the sudden darling of social media junkies, I figured I need to at least give it a fair try. So, like a helpless Farmville addict, I went back for more.

I resolved to ask questions, read and vote for answers, and find cool stuff. I was going to separate the good and the bad from the hype in what looks like the next big social network.

Instead, I read some questions, read more answers, voted a lot of bad answers down, and came away with this impression of its users:

Second Analysis of Quora, or I'm smarter than you - The Anti-Social Media

I thought I ditched the smart kids who want to show off in high school. Do we need to go through this again, and does it have to be in front of the entire internet?

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My Initial Analysis of Quora

So I  jumped on the Quora band wagon. I’m too much of a coward to ask or answer any questions yet, but I made a chart with my initial impressions.Quora VS Yahoo Answers - a Venn Diagram

Yeah. That about sums up my feelings for now.