Some of the most interesting and relevant content on Quora are related to places. But up until now, Quora hasn’t done much to focus that data using location. Today, they’re starting to.
A new feature going live shortly will allow users to set location information for topics. For example, if there’s a topic about the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, you can now drop a pin to indicate where that is on a map. This location will then show up to everyone browsing that topic. And the map can be set to show the satellite or terrain view as well (they’re using Google Maps). Specific addresses can also be entered.
This may not sound like a big deal, but it likely points to where Quora is thinking about heading with regard to location itself. The company notes that as more people use the service from their mobile phones, location-based questions and answers are increasingly important. This is something that other startups, like Hipster, have been built around.
Location also more generally allows Quora to tie topics together in a new way. For example, if you’re planning a trip somewhere, you could look up interesting information around the area you’re headed that might not otherwise be surfaced by a general query.
It looks like Facebook aren’t the only ones taking location more seriously.
Quora, founded in June 2009, first launched in private beta in January 2010. Quora is a continually improving collection of questions and answers created, edited, and organized by everyone who uses it. The most important thing is to have each question page become the best possible resource for someone who wants to know about the question. One way you can think of it is as a cache for the research that people do looking things up on the web and asking...
Seattle, WA
San Diego, CA
Menlo Park, CA
San Francisco, CA
Berlin, Germany
Boston, MA
