While Google chose to buy question and answer site Aardvark, Facebook decided to build their own system from the ground up, an attempt to take some of the Q&A market dominated by Wiki Answers, Yahoo Answers, AnswerBag and other popular sites.
The application is currently in beta-testing phase and users can participate by submitting and answering three questions through the program. After you’ve mass submitted your three questions Facebook promises to get back to you in 24 hours to let you know if you’re approved.
Given the size of the Facebook userbase the 3 question protocol is a great way for Facebook to build up a huge database of questions and answers, allowing them to immediately compete in the market which includes millions of questions and answers already established by other sites.
The main question in my opinion is how Facebook will moderate the system. My biggest problem with these systems is that they often provide rubbish answers to questions. One site that has battled that rubbish is AnswerBag.com, a Demand Media property that provides many answers from writers who research and post answers through the companies editor driven DemandStudios platform.
Interestingly enough, the site will also face off against Quora, a site founded last year by several former Facebook employees.
