I’d never heard of Quora until I attended a luncheon where social media was the topic. And the hot topic was Quora. The next day I saw several articles about it.

So what is it? Founded by two former Facebook bigwigs, it opened to the public in June 2010. The Q&A site isn’t yet a household name, but it’s fun (caveat: you can lose a lot of time on the site as I did today, but it was all for research!).

It is reminiscent of AskMe and other similar sites a decade or so ago. You post questions and answers on any topic and search for ones that have already been posted. You can follow other members (like Twitter). And you can vote if you like or don’t like an answer.  

As with Facebook, it seems to be popular because of the sense of community. And you can feel smart when you answer a question, or even post one.

Of course, you also might feel excluded when no one answers your question, which happens.

My logical first step was to read the answers to “How do I get started on Quora?” I learned –

• Follow some topics that interest you.
• Browse questions that interest you.
• Add answers to questions you know about.
• Improve question pages.
• Find people you know who are already on Quora.

So for now I’m following some answers to questions about international travel, traveling smart and traveling to places that interest me.

Do you need to be here? Nope. But it’s like the trendy restaurant in town. While it’s hip, you want to get a table. So for now, I’m going to spend some time on Quora. I may even ask about the best new restaurants in my town.