Ask Me Anything's

Small talk is becoming a thing of the past in the real world. Nowadays the majority of conversations with strangers is done online, via forums, chat sites or instant messaging.

An aspect of this that has been gathering a lot of attention lately is Iama's, where people state what makes them unique and allows everybody to Ask Them Anything:

This ranges from interesting people that live in extraordinary ways to celebrities and politicians.

Here a 'Dwarf in a wheelchair who plays in a band' is offering the people of the internet to ask him anything they want.

I think that this feature really encapsulates what small talk used to be- finding out interesting things about peoples lives- that we hardly get the opportunity to do these days

Sometimes it is the people that have the most mundane jobs that have the best stories and answers to questions

It is also becoming more common for celebrities to do 2 hour or so AMA's usually when they are plugging an upcoming film etc.

This gives people the opportunity to personalise their own interviews. If somebody suggests a good question then the community can upvote it so that it is more likely to be answered

Here are screen shots of Gerard Butler and Bill Gates' AMA's

This is a really versatile facility that can engage people in serious debate or bring people together over a shared interest.

I think that something similar to this would be effective in real life, where people can actually meet other real people.

The bar that I am branding could have special nights in which they get a certain celebrity to do an AMA and the customers can submit questions from stations in the tables that will then be answered and displayed on a large screen in the bar. This will give all customers something in common/ a shared interest that they can start conversations from, these nights could also have a professional edge that will allow for networking and useful socialising.