Completely disagree. Quora have done a whole bunch of very smart and innovative things that lead their Q&A site to be a very different beast from Yahoo! Answers / Mahalo / Stack Overflow etc.
* They are the first Q&A site I've seen that is completely personalised - you only see questions that are either followed by your social graph or apply to the topics you have selected.
* Questions are owned by the community, not the person who asked the question. It's actually pretty hard to figure out who asked a question in the first place, and other people can improve the wording, apply topics etc.
* They don't use a dumb points or badges based incentive system. Instead, their incentives are much more subtle - it's all about seeing how your peers respond to your interactions. The "thanks" button is a lovely example of this.
In 2002, would you have said "There's nothing innovative about Google in terms of technology or concept. It's a search engine. No more, no less." ?
But I don't think they're a "blogging" innovation. That's just a catchy headline.
They might not be themselves differentiators, but they are indicators of a differentiated understanding of how to design a good Q & A site that elicits high quality content from high quality contributers.
Technology is no longer the only differentiator. We've moved far enough "up the stack" that there are lots of ways to differentiate in consumer internet beyond better algorithms.
Do Craigslist, Facebook, or Twitter have anything that's, in your opinion, "differentiated"?
I think Craiglist and Twitter had first mover advantage.
Facebook definitely started with the network effect. It was far technically inferior to Myspace and Friendster when I first signed up.
I only joined because of the exclusive feel which soon changed when they branched out. Many of my colleagues and I have said we never would have made a Facebook account if it was public like it is now.
* They are the first Q&A site I've seen that is completely personalised - you only see questions that are either followed by your social graph or apply to the topics you have selected.
* Questions are owned by the community, not the person who asked the question. It's actually pretty hard to figure out who asked a question in the first place, and other people can improve the wording, apply topics etc.
* They don't use a dumb points or badges based incentive system. Instead, their incentives are much more subtle - it's all about seeing how your peers respond to your interactions. The "thanks" button is a lovely example of this.
In 2002, would you have said "There's nothing innovative about Google in terms of technology or concept. It's a search engine. No more, no less." ?
But I don't think they're a "blogging" innovation. That's just a catchy headline.