Facebook is hoping to engage the collective intelligence of the web in order to answer some of the world's most sought after questions.

Facebook Questions, which the social networking giant has launched to a limited number of users in a beta trial, will offer up the burning questions of its users within its 500 million strong community.

Questions such as:

- What type of flower is growing in my back yard?

and

- Which video game system is better for my 8 year-old cousin: Wii or Xbox?

These are the two examples thrown up by Facebook's Blake Ross in a blog post detailing the service. We're sure that you can probably think of better ones.

The idea, which is along the same lines as Yahoo's question service, is to get answers to questions you have, not only from your Facebook friends, but from friends of friends and, Ross is also keen to point out that "all questions and answers posted using the Questions application are public and visible to everyone on the internet".

You can choose to just ask your friends, as per a usual status update, but you can also seek out subject experts by tagging your question with a specific theme. Facebook will then filter those questions to people "in the know".

You can also add pictures and a poll to your question to illustrate your query more clearly. And, because of the tags you might not even have to ask a question in the first place - the tagging feature should make it easier to find the answers that you're after in specific areas.

As we said, Facebook Questions is in limited beta at the moment, we'll let you know as soon as it goes mainstream.

In the meantime, let us know what questions you want answered. The Facebook collective mind of 500 million is nothing compared to the intelligence and great minds that can be found at Pocket-lint HQ.

• Video - Facebook users attacked in personal info scam
• Opinion - Does Facebook success mean privacy not important?

Via: blog.facebook.com

Recommended articles