Facebook turns to crowdsourcing with Q&A app

Facebook Question is available as a limited beta for now

Facebook has launched a beta of Facebook Question, a tool that allows users to pose questions to all 500 million members of the social networking site.

An 'Ask Question' button at the top of the homepage allows users to ask questions about friends from their profiles, similar to posting something on their wall.

Questions can be tagged to aid accurate responses, so if someone wants to know the best camera on the market, for example, they would tag it with the word 'photography'.

It is possible to see all questions filed under a tag, so that users can gain knowledge without needing to ask a question.

Facebook warned that all questions and answers posted using the application will be visible to everyone on the internet.

Individuals who want to ask a question to friends or a specific group of people are advised to do so as a status update.

Users can browse answers or click 'follow' under any question to receive a notification each time an answer is posted, and can add photos to questions or carry out polls.

"Millions of people ask their friends questions on Facebook every day. What new music should I listen to? Where's the best sushi place in town? How do I learn to play the piano?", said Blake Ross, director of product management at Facebook, in a blog post.

"With this new application, you can get a broader set of answers and learn valuable information from people knowledgeable on a range of topics."

Facebook Questions is available to a limited number of people at present, and will be developed further based on feedback.

"We're aiming to bring this product to all of you as quickly as we can," Ross added.

The application has been launched at a time of fresh security embarrassments for Facebook, after the news that personal information on 100 million users was posted online to demonstrate the potential privacy weaknesses of social networks.