On July 28, 2010 Facebook officially announced the introduction of its newest feature – Facebook Questions. The concept is not new. In fact, the ability to ask and answer questions in a social environment has been a popular feature of LinkedIn for quite some time. However the ripples in the social media lake are much greater when the world’s most popular social environment makes a splash.

Before getting too excited we must point out that Facebook Questions is so new that it is being introduced in waves. In an attempt to experiment with the new feature, our team was greeted with this message:

Feature not available to us as of August 2, 2010

Questions… About Facebook Questions

What Is Facebook Questions?

From Facebook: “Use Facebook Questions to ask and answer questions from your friends and other experts. Since everyone can see your question, you’ll get answers from people who know the most about that topic. Your friends will also see your questions in News Feed, so you’ll also get tailored answers from people who know the most about you.”

How Do I Use Facebook Questions?

Once Facebook Questions is made available to your account, you will be able to ask a question in 3 ways:

1. By asking a question in the search field at the top of any page
2. Clicking on the Questions dashboard on your home page
3. Using the Publisher at the top of your profile page

How Will Facebook Questions Build Your Identity / Brand?

Just as individuals and businesses build their credibility and social networking presence by using LinkedIn’s Answers, users can now take advantage of this feature through Facebook. One immediate difference is the larger user-base of Facebook which promises greater and more interesting social response.

By asking a question, you can highlight your interests and potentially learn new things by receiving well informed responses.

By answering questions, you can showcase your knowledge in your field and build up a portfolio of well-rated answers.

Facebook Questions will also be available through business ‘pages’ so admins of ‘pages’ will be able to pose questions as well as answer questions as the ‘page’ they administrate (great for consultants with their own business page).

What Does the Facebook Questions Feature Mean for Internet Marketers?

The immediate feature is the ability to learn and engage – a crucial ingredient in being social. However, what Internet Marketers need to see is that Facebook Questions gives Facebook a function it previously didn’t possess, and that function looks an awful lot like a social version of a search engine.

If Facebook Questions meets expectations, this feature will inevitably take a share of Google’s searches. Currently people turn to Google to find answers to the questions they have. Not only is Facebook now attempting to provide the same service, it’s doing it in a way that people may find to be more relevant because the answers they receive will be real-time and from real individuals. Furthermore, users may also find the experience to be greater. Asking a question and letting someone answer for you may be a perk over trying to figure out the best way to phrase your question to find relevant results in search engines. Additionally, users may enjoy developing social relationships and networking with the respondents.

Identity Building Blog Takeaway for Facebook Questions:

To really understand the impact of Facebook Questions you must understand the desired end to the social media revolution. Though it seems practically everything on the internet has undergone an incredible change in the past few years the transition is still occurring.  At the end of the transition is an internet that gives people a shopping experience like never before. The best way to sell your product or service is by you not selling your product or service. The entire industry is on the same page – including the large retail companies, the marketers, and the search engines / social media power houses (google / facebook). The future of sales and marketing is an environment where the customers are the sales reps and have the ability to immediately describe and rate their experience with a brand. Everything that continues to occur in social media and search engines keeps driving towards this end and in that respect Facebook Questions makes a lot of sense.