As the Facebook Timeline rolls out to more users, apps are increasingly taking advantage of the deeper integration available as Open Graph apps. The latest arrival is Quora, as I was prompted today upon visiting the site; I didn't notice the official announcement on Friday – it’s hard to keep track of their blog without RSS. If you didn't enable the frictionless sharing straight from the prompt, visit ‘Settings’ ► ‘Connect accounts’ and then click on the ‘No’-link under Facebook. That opens the Facebook dialog to approve the extra permissions for Quora. The link acts as a toggle to quickly turn the integration on or off. At this time no other options are available. You can post your questions or feedback directly on the site or just follow the dedicated topic for updates.
Instead of sharing everything you do on the site with Facebook, Quora took a more careful approach, adding only the questions and topics you up-vote and the questions and people you follow automatically to the Timeline. While others complained that your own questions and answers aren’t included in the seamless sharing, I for one welcome the ability to keep some things separated from Facebook. It’s not like it’s difficult to share your own content, you just need to check a box before posting. I’m not sure mixing the two different styles of networking (‘friend’-based vs. ‘interest’-based) is such a good idea, but I’m not very active on Quora, so it shouldn’t become too noisy for my Facebook friends, who probably never heard of Quora, let alone use it. I’m mildly surprised that Facebook allowed Quora to connect through the Open Graph, given that it competes more or less directly with one of its own features; or could this be the reason why Quora doesn’t share your own questions seamlessly?
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