On March 24, Facebook released the Questions feature to the masses. In theory, both businesses and consumers should be able to use this tool to give and get feedback about anything and everything.
Experts seem optimistic. One author on Mashable reports good news:
It also presents a major opportunity for businesses to conduct market research and crowdsource in a far more elegant way than was previously possible, according to Ben Grossman, communication strategist for marketing agency Oxford Communications.
Well. Okay. I think the potential is there. But right now, most of the questions and answers cluttering my homepage revolve around sports teams (PACKERS!1!! VS. VIKINGS1!) or brand preference (Coke or Pepsi? Mac or PC?). This Questions tool seems like a new-ish way for users to express opinions on tired topics.
Right now, one question keeps reappearing on my home page. The asker wonders, “Which [university] is better?” While a few thousand people have registered votes for Purdue and Madison, Hogwarts is still a top vote-getter:
Will this be a tool that users take seriously and businesses can legitimately utilize to make business decisions based on consumer feedback? Right now, I’m skeptical. Honestly, this would be an amazing way for our clients to reach out to their customers. Will you be using Questions? If so, how? I’d like to see some examples of individuals or businesses utilizing the full potential of Questions.
