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The platform once deemed a barometer for quality responses to user queries has lost its way. AI is largely responsible – in more ways than one.
Have you ever heard of ‘Dead Internet Theory?’
It subscribes to the idea that both bots and content created by algorithms will soon overtake the digital presence and volume of human works online. We’ve written about it in detail previously.
Apprehension about that prospect has been heightened significantly with the explosion of generative AI products in the last 24 months.
Platforms like ChatGPT and Google Gemini are fast becoming staples for inquisitive folk – especially those on the younger side – as the instant nature of AI aligns seamlessly with Gen Z’s fleeting attention spans and love of all things short-form.
As someone right on the generational cusp of both Gen Z and Millennial, I myself have transitioned from using the ‘traditional’ means of scrolling through Ask Jeeves (now Ask.com) or Quora for answers in my teens, to now jumping straight on ChatGPT to amalgamate information from right across the internet.
Five years ago, a hypochondriac would relieve their neurotic health concerns with a Google search that would, a lot of the time, direct them to a Quora response written by a medical expert. With the integration of Gemini, however, that segway has all but vanished in 2024.
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inNoStupidQuestions
The people spending their time on Quora are almost exclusively there on purpose these days and aren’t lost in a rabbit hole traceable to a search engine. And to be fair, the platform’s userbase is still significant boasting roughly 400 million active monthly users as of August 2024.
Again, though, despite continued interest in the site, it has largely failed to capture the attention of young people. This will inevitably lead to a dive in engagement if Quora opts against reinventing itself and continues to kick the can down the road.
There’s also a growing negative sentiment among the existing Quora faithful. The site has, in essence, become a knockoff Reddit plagued by moderation issues, spam, trolls, and bots. The company’s attempts to automate its moderation, meanwhile, have only compounded the worse aspects of Quora.
Quantity has taken precedence over quality where answers are concerned, and a desire to generate revenue en masse has led to an oversaturation of uninteresting topics and questions. For me, the feed is really reminiscent of the Facebook timeline – and that’s not a good thing.
