6 Ways to Use Quora for Research

Have you ever used Quora before to solve an unanswered question or start a conversation about an interesting topic? As a platform, Quora allows its community to post and answer questions about anything of their choosing to gain collective knowledge. One way to take advantage of this question and answer based feedback is using it for your day to day researching needs. Follow Boards on Any Given Topic This past December Quora launched boards, making it easier to organize questions and answers on a particular topic. This newly launched feature is a great research tool because it often pulls quality conversations and articles all to one place. It helps bring the best content on a topic to the top of the board based on votes by the Quora community. Think of it as a search engine based on the input of your friends, followers and surrounding community on Quora. Insider Travel & Public Transit Advice Follow questions, topics and boards about your city to get tips on the most effective ways to get around. Search for phrases related to your city like New York Travel or Philadelphia Airport to find alternate routes, time savers in the airport, less traveled back roads, the locations of affordable parking garages, etc. Recipes & Cooking Tips Planning on cooking up a Mexican feast, but can’t quite remember what ingredients taste best to make your own guacamole? Quora gives you the opportunity to rely on genuine feedback from real people, often your friends that have been there and already cooked that. Take a gander at the many recipes available with insider tips into what worked with that recipe and what really didn’t. Restaurant & Shopping Suggestions for Your City Quora can help if you’re looking to research where to get a specific type of food in your area but you just don’t know where to start. Your network of friends and family are often the best sources of recommendations for dining and shopping, but they can’t possibly know it all. This is where you can look and see if someone had the same question previously or post your question for some in the Quora community to answer. Use it as barometer for what range of restaurants and stores are available in your area, reading the feedback on that question or topic about a particular type of food, restaurant, store or product. Business Insights from the Experts There are many aspects about the business world that aren’t easy and it’s okay to ask for help sometimes. A question or an issue with your business may not require hiring an expert, but nevertheless you might need some input. Turn to Quora as a research tool by searching if your question already exists or if you should post it under a particular topic or board to get expert input. This can be extremely helpful if the answer to your question is from a valid source, look up who answered your question just to be sure. Nevertheless, answering a quick question like the one above can be done rather quickly and for free, letting you get back to running your business with added insight. Help on the Job/Hiring Front Looking for a job can often be a long, tedious process. Having as many outlets for finding jobs as possible can help streamline your efforts. Therefore, be active on Quora and other social channels, especially if you’re looking for a job in a tech based industry. Fill out your profile to its fullest and participate by answering and posting questions on a variety of topics as an expert in your field. See who else is posting and what they’re posting about. Many experts weigh into discussions on Quora, follow them and see what makes them tick. Learn what you can about the companies they run or the companies they work for, getting to know them as you go along. You can get an insider’s look into a company’s culture, while getting your name and some recognition so that you’re more than a faceless resume. On the other side of the desk, you can learn what others in HR are doing to find qualified candidates. See if the types of questions and screening tactics you’re using are working for others or if you need to sharpen your approach to the hiring process. Search for phrases like jobs, employment and human resources to see what job seekers and HR experts are curious about so you can learn from their discussions and contribute. Brian Honigman is the Social Media Account Manager at LunaMetrics, a Google Analytics certified partner that also specializes in social media, search engine optimization and PPC. You can follow him on Twitter @Brian_Honigman or @LunaMetrics.

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6 Ways to Use Quora for Research

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