AMA (Ask Me Anything) posts have proved a spectacular success on Reddit, enabling celebrities and interesting characters from all walks of life to reveal more about themselves and how they work. Barack Obama, Bill Gates and Edward Snowden are just some of the well-known figures to host a Reddit AMA in recent times.
Now Tumblr wants a piece of the action with a new Answer Time portal that officially launches on Monday. High-profile users — including Tumblr founder David Karp, band Fall Out Boy, and children’s author Lois Lowry — will open up their Ask boxes a couple of days in advance and then post responses on their Tumblr at a specified date and time.
“You’ll be asking musicians, artists, actors, politicians, and Internet personalities exactly whatever you want to ask them,” the Tumblr Staff blog explains. “They’ll be answering right on their Tumblrs. It’s going to be a little bonkers in the best possible way.” Tumblr owner Yahoo will be hoping that the project leads to as much buzz and as many exclusives as the Reddit AMA has over the years.
“Our vision for Answer Time is to give awesomely creative people a place where they can connect with their curious fans and answer questions in a way that is as direct and honest as if you are talking with a friend,” added Danielle Strle, Tumblr’s director of Culture and Trends, in a press release.
The idea isn’t totally new: In the past Tumblr has regularly run a series of Dashboard Confessionals, where musicians, bands and other well-known users respond to questions from the community. Answer Time looks like a way to formalize and build on that for the future as Yahoo looks to get some return from its investment — it’s not just about looping GIFs, you know.
Via Fast Company
