Skip to main content

Quora caves and partners as a source for link-bait heavy Web publishers

quora
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Question-and-answer forum Quora is using platforms like Buzzfeed and Forbes to get more eyes on its social Q&A content — and this strategy may help the service catch up to Reddit. 

Not that Quora is a slouch when it comes to traffic — posts like “I am in my late 20s, and I feel I have wasted a lot of time. Is it too late?” garnered hundreds of answers, including some from successful late bloomers, and has over 385,000 page views. This thread was merged with another to create a Buzzfeed post called “15 Famous Who Didn’t Make It Big Until Way After Their 20s” which racked up around 118,000 views — in other words, Quora’s original posts are often more popular than the posts the website inspires from media allies. 

So what’s the benefit? Even though Quora’s traffic is nothing short of impressive, according to AllThingsD, CEO Adam D’Angelo has lofty goals — he wants a top ten website. And content distribution will get more eyes on Quora answers and help familiarize people with the website, although it does require allowing websites to put their own spins on the content. Buzzfeed, for instance, adds GIFs and images, while Quora is predominantly text-based, and does not allow submissions comprised solely of images. So Quora may lose the interest of Buzzfeed readers who prefer image-heavy posts, but for every reader who just wants to see the more easily digestible version, they may gain a loyal Quora user.  

Another reason for cooperation: Sites like Buzzfeed have dipped into forums to plumb for content for years, so even if Quora had a vendetta against this kind of co-oping, it probably wouldn’t end well, since it would require legal action to get content inspired by Quora forums scrubbed. Buzzfeed has been in numerous spats with Redditors for alleged plagiarism, and On The Media even asked “Is ‘borrowing’ the secret to Buzzfeed’s success?” While Buzzfeed contains some outstanding original and long form journalism, a lot of its clickbait is snaked from other sources –especially Reddit. Adding Quora to its roster of sources in a more legitimate way is perhaps an even bigger win for Buzzfeed than the exposure is for Quora, although it’s a bit of a cave for Quora. 

Topics
Kate Knibbs
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kate Knibbs is a writer from Chicago. She is very happy that her borderline-unhealthy Internet habits are rewarded with a…
X rival Threads could be about to get millions of more users
Instagram Threads app.

Threads -- Meta’s rival to X, formerly Twitter -- has just launched in the European Union (EU), a market with nearly half a billion people.

The app launched in the U.S. to much fanfare in July, with Meta hoping to attract X users disillusioned with the turbulence on the platform since Elon Musk acquired it for $44 billion 14 months ago.

Read more
X (formerly Twitter) returns after global outage
A white X on a black background, which could be Twitter's new logo.

X, formerly known as Twitter, went down for about 90 minutes for users worldwide early on Thursday ET.

Anyone opening the social media app across all platforms was met with a blank timeline. On desktop, users saw a message that simply read, "Welcome to X," while on mobile the app showed suggestions for accounts to follow.

Read more
How to create multiple profiles on a Facebook account
A series of social media app icons on a colorful smartphone screen.

Facebook (and, by extension, Meta) are particular in the way that they allow users to create accounts and interact with their platform. Being the opposite of the typical anonymous service, Facebook sticks to the rule of one account per one person. However, Facebook allows its users to create multiple profiles that are all linked to one main Facebook account.

In much the same way as Japanese philosophy tells us we have three faces — one to show the world, one to show family, and one to show no one but ourselves — these profiles allow us to put a different 'face' out to different aspects or hobbies. One profile can keep tabs on your friends, while another goes hardcore into networking and selling tech on Facebook Marketplace.

Read more