Under pressure to grow, Quora moves into the publishing blogs

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Reuters: San Francisco, Jan 24 2013, 09:24 IST

Under pressure to quicken its growth, the once-red hot question-and-answer startup Quora.com said it will launch a blogging platform to encourage more input from its users, who share everything from intensely personal experiences to deep technical knowledge on the site.

Touted just two years ago as the next Wikipedia, or perhaps even the next Google, Quora has not overtaken its more modest rivals, much less joined the pantheon of Web giants.

Quora now has roughly 2 million monthly visitors who go to post and answer questions about practically anything, compared to Yahoo! Answers' 69 million and Answers.com's 49 million, according to ComScore statistics.

By cultivating a blog network, the site could be laying the groundwork to pivot into a more traditional ad-supported media property.

Marc Bodnick, a former investment partner at Elevation Partners who is now Quora's senior business executive, said the new format should appeal to writers who do not already blog, or who do not maintain a heavily trafficked personal site. Quora also said it would release a new smartphone app with advanced text editing tools so its contributors can write on the go.

"Building a blog and marketing it is really hard work and requires a lot of time," Bodnick said. "On Quora, if you come on and write one good thing it could explode. No matter who you are, we can provide you the audience."

Quora will retain its well-known Q & A format, but the new set of publishing tools is the first significant change to the feel of the site,

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