Adding Value (And No, Not the Extra Large French Fry Kind)

I keep finding myself in conversations with people about new social media tools and it seems like every one ends the same way...

‘It could work... if it adds value.’

This statement is nothing new or revolutionary in the social media world (or in the real world, for that matter). Recently I’ve used it when talking about features to define Twitter hashtags, GetGlue’s HBO check-in app, and, of course, the never ending explanations on what Foursquare is and whether or not you should give it a shot (you should, by the way).

Whether you are creating the next big social media app or opening a brick and mortar storefront, you have to be providing value to your audience. Simple enough.

According to my nifty little Mac Dashboard dictionary, value is defined as ‘the regard that something is held to deserve; the importance or preciousness of something.’ It’s not as easy as just providing something. Value means it has to have purpose.

I’m not using Google Buzz because (in my opinion) it is just an imitation Twitter.
I’m not using Gowalla because I’m already checking in to Foursquare.
I’m not going to use GetGlue’s HBO app because I’m already telling people on Twitter that I’m watching True Blood (and no, a ‘Truebie’ badge isn’t enough to convince me to join).

So when I heard that Ask.com was relaunching, I was quite surprised. According to Nielsen data, Ask.com currently only accounts for 2% of the search market in the United States. Back in the days before Google, I loved Jeeves and his snazzy suit, but do we really need another search engine now? Aren’t Google, Bing, and Yahoo enough?

Ask.com, apparently anticipating my reaction, has made it clear that they are ‘refocus[ing] their search strategy around a more social experience.” That means they are developing a community-driven Q&A.

According to Mashable, “It includes a Q&A product that pulls from 500 million indexed questions and answers and queries appropriate Ask.com users for their answers... The new version of the site is meant to deliver real answers, as opposed to just links, and introduce a community element to deliver human answers to subjective and complex questions.”

Q&A, eh? Not the most original idea, considering that same week, Facebook announced the launch of its beta version of Facebook Questions.

I think Techi.com nailed it on the head, explaining, “Facebook Questions is Yahoo Answers, only for Facebook... ask a question, get community answers. With a pool of 500 million users to draw knowledge from, that’s a pretty rad prospect. Someone’s gotta know, right?”

I’m not here to tell you that Ask.com’s relaunch or Facebook Questions will or will not succeed (however, I do think Facebook has a better chance since we are already spending 700 billion minutes a month on that site to begin with... but I digress), I’m just looking for the value.

Are either of these strong enough to lure people away from Google to a community-driven board instead? If people want ‘real’ answers, will they really post them here, or continue to post them on Twitter and Facebook instead?

Only time will tell.  

Danielle Hohmeier writes about marketing and design in the digital world for Atomicdust, with a focus on marketing convergence and social media.