Buzzing around Facebook is the newly launched application called Facebook Questions. So, what is it and will it change the way you’re currently using Facebook?

According to a post on Facebook Blog, this application allows you to “get a broader set of answers and learn invaluable information from knowledgeable people on a range of topics”. Or put more simply, you post a question in the Facebook Questions box and you’ll receive responses from one of its 500 million Facebook users.

Mashable released a post outlining some of its features. These include:

-       Photo Questions: if you’re unsure about what something is in a photograph you have just taken, post it onto Facebook Questions accompanied by a question and someone will answer it.

-       Polling: if you want to know what people think on a certain topic, for example, “Is Coke or Pepsi better?” you can set up your question as a poll

-       Tagging: your question will be tagged according to its category or topic as mentioned above

-       Topic Exploration: You can browse through all the questions

-       Following: you can follow certain questions as they are updated

Will it change the homepage at all? Slightly, but it shouldn’t hinder the way that you’re currently using Facebook. It will be placed where your status updates go on your main feed, as well as inserted alongside your events, calendar and application tabs making it easily accessible, but not distracting.

For businesses, Facebook Questions can be used as a mighty tool for your business because of its tagging and topic exploration features. If someone has posted a question and it is in your field of work, answer it and they will more than likely research your brand, gaining a potential client.

If you’re wondering why you don’t have this feature yet on your Facebook page, hold tight, it’s coming to your page soon! It’s currently still in its beta stage and being tested by selected users, but is expected to spread to all profile over the next few weeks.

If you’d like to become a beta tester, you can sign up here

What will your first question be when Facebook Questions appears on your page? Does this post help to clear up the why and what of facebook questions?

I just had to share what’s happening on the new virgin website. It’s re-design and re-build is spot on! Why, because Virgin has truly personalised its web space, made it interactive, easy to use and built this around the community and fans they have. It’s all social media-ed up! Instead of focusing solely on the Virgin brand,  they are focusing on the credibility and personal brand of Richard Branson – building up that feeling of trust and a stronger relationship with the brand. The whole site is as much about Virgin as it is about us!

Why I love the new site:

The website is a portal to visit all the virgin websites from all around the world and get familiar with what Virgin has to offer. There’s so much more to Virgin than I originally thought!

Virgin have made it super easy for us to comment, post suggestions, share ideas, interact, gain opportunities in the business world that we could never have made before. Virgin have been extremely smart here. They have created a social networking site..plus more… all underneath the banner of their brand!

In the words of Richard Branson ” It’s your space to build and incubate ideas, help each other, get advice, talk to people and be inspired by other entrepreneurs. If your ideas can make money and benefit the world we’d love to hear from you”.

There is a section where you can pitch your entrepreneurial ideas on video, upload your films and if enough people in the community vote for you then you can be part of a pitch TV show – shown on all Virgin planes. Again, Virgin are extremely clever here as they are making the opportunity a WIN WIN. They get more exposure and credibility plus hits to their site/facebook fanpage thanks to us and we get the opportunity to possibly get our ideas put into action.

The site enables us to link up our facebook account with our Virgin.com account. So we can post our virgin.com activity right into our news feed. Hmm..wonder why they have done this

Virgin have utilised the facebook connect facility which has enabled them and us  to seamlessly hook up online – Virgin are among the biggest brands in the world to use it. I love Virgin because they are reactional to what’s going on right now and they have harnessed an extremely powerful way to market and connect with their target market. There are so many other brands..small and large that all have the same opportunity yet hold back, due to fear and perceived constraints. Go Virgin I say!

There’s an Ask Richard section: where you can ask Richard anything you like and he answers the communities’ most popular question every month. You’ll find a “Quick talk section” on the landing page – where you can write about what’s on your mind and interact with the virgin community. They also have their latest blog titles and some comments are displayed on the landing page enticing you to move further into the site.

You can check the site out here – http://virgin.com

In a nutshell, Virgin are leaders, they are willing to give new sources of media a chance and they are extremely community focused, they always have been. That’s why their new site is going nuts!!!

The purpose of this post is to highlight a big brand utilising social media extremely well and to show you how they are capturing millions of people and community members to the site. It’s also to inspire you and to get you thinking on a whole new level. Are you loving this…or what??? I wanna know – pop your comments below