Formspring.me is a question and answer social networking site. Users can ask other users questions on most any topic. The site has social networking features such as friends, following and messaging. Questions are considered to be messages on the site. Users can find their friends by searching the Formspring.me site, via email address, or with Facebook or Twitter. Users can also use their Facebook login to log into the Formspring.me site. Searches can be performed by username, first name or last name. There is a convenient top menu bar for navigation of the site, with tabs for Profile, Following, Inbox, Settings and Find People. Users have complete control over their Inbox, and can simply delete a question, respond to a question, block a user from contacting them or label a message as spam. Users can also send questions anonymously. Users can choose what information about themselves to display on their Profile using the Settings tab. The Following tab shows a summary of the people the user is following, along with some of the questions they have answered. Users can ask other users questions by clicking on their entry in Following or by doing a search. Users can also upload a photo to their Profile.
Formspring.me was launched in November 2009.
Competition to Formspring.me comes from site such as Yahoo Answers and Aardvark. Yahoo Answers has recently added social networking aspects, but its main focus still continues to be informational questions. The questions on Formspring.me are more on the personal side. Aardvark is also an information social networking site. Formspring.me can best be compared to Facebook or MySpace centered around personal questions, such as Who is your favorite music artist? Or What is your favorite food?
The Formspring.me site has a very clean and uncluttered look and feel. The site is very responsive, and page loads happen quickly. The search function on the site responds quickly as well, with searches using Facebook or Twitter taking a bit longer. Navigation is intuitive, and the social networking features are very easy to use. There is no advertising displayed on the Formspring.me site.
Registration to Formspring.me is free and is required to use the site. Users can alternatively login to the site using their Facebook account. The registration process asks for username, name, password and email address. Validation of the email address is not required.
No premium membership is offered to the site, and users with a free account have access to all features of the site.
Formspring.me is recommended to anyone who wishes to ask questions of their friends and people they are following, and answer questions about themselves as well. The site allows users to gain an interesting insight into other people, and offer the same about themselves. The site is an excellent place to meet new friends as well.