While reading through my Twitterstream this afternoon, I noticed an @leolaporte invasion. Leo had asked a question:
Getting ready to speak to radio executives at the Radio Ink conference. Q: Is radio dead? Discuss!
Since my friends on Twitter share my love of the Laporte, I was treated to a constant barrage of replies.
In its fairly short life, Twitter has moved from not much more than a public view of status messages to a close-knit way to read and reply to whatever happens to be taking up space in the minds of your friends. Leo’s afternoon query - and thousands of others from people all around the world - signal another space for everyone’s favorite 140-character addiction: a real-time polling service.
Advantage: popularity
The polling advantage is held by those with a huge following. While a user with a double-digit following may receive one or two responses a Twitter question, Leo (with over 9,000 followers) will naturally receive more.
Where does that leave users with a humbler following? In general Twitter users enjoy making connections and helping others. The missing link is a centralized place for people to ask (and answer) questions in the Twitterverse.
A possible solution
Twitter services such as @commuter have become an innovative way to extend the possibilities of microblogging. Could a centralized question and answer service be the answer for Twitter users who want to ask and answer questions?
Consider the following scenario.
- A Twitter user sends a direct message (DM) to a question service/bot.
- The service tweets the user’s question with the user’s name at the beginning of the tweet.
- Other users reply to the question asker with their answer.
A very similar service already exists; @QNA takes a more reference-based approach. The social component of Twitter seems to be missing, though. Any sort of conversational question could be useful: What should I watch on TV right now? Anyone know how to change roles in WordPress? Where should I go for the best cheese steaks in Philly?
The biggest challenge of such a service would be convincing enough users to adopt it.
In his wonderful “Social Media & Networking Starter Guide” presentation at PodCamp Toronto, Chris Brogan (another member of the Twitter four-digit follower club) explained how his connections on Twitter helped him find his destination while he was lost in Manhattan. How long will it take before any Twitter user can have that sort of convenience?
