Announcing TED Conversations!

We’re thrilled to announce today the launch of TED Conversations, a new social platform on TED.com that connects people for conversation, collaboration and debate. TED Conversations was designed and built from the ground up to foster meaningful conversation among the global community who watch, share and discuss TEDTalks.

Anyone who participates in online communities will find the interface familiar and intuitive. But there are a few unique TED twists:

TED Conversations all fall under 3 categories: Questions, Debates and Ideas. Each can be used to foster a particular type of conversation: By asking a question, you can tap into the expertise of the TED community. By proposing an idea, you can elicit constructive feedback. And by initiating a debate, you can lay out a key issue for spirited discussion.

TED Conversations have an expiration date. We believe that conversations, like talks, benefit from time constraints. So just as TEDTalks are limited to 18 minutes or less, TED Conversations are set to last one day, one week or one month. When you start a conversation, you also decide when it will end; afterward, you can summarize the discussion with a closing statement.

TED Conversations can be linked to specific TEDTalks on TED.com. Users can ask a question, debate an issue or propose an idea that was sparked by watching one or more TEDTalks. This allows a thoughtful exchange among a global community with a shared experience and knowledge base.

TED Conversations can be tagged — and found — by subject. To ease navigation, users can search for specific topics such as “architecture,” “alternative medicine” or “clean energy.”

TED Conversations include speakers and other community rock stars. At launch, TED Conversations includes discussions with TED speakers such as global health expert Hans Rosling, behavioral economist Dan Ariely (author, “Predictably Irrational”), game designer Jane McGonigal (author, “Reality Is Broken”), entrepreneur and marketer Seth Godin (author, “Permission Marketing”, “Tribes”), Rhode Island School of Design president John Maeda (author, “The Laws of Simplicity”), tech gurus Tim O’Reilly and Kevin Kelly, and many more. TED Translators, TED Fellows, TEDx hosts and TED staff are all active on the site.

Start or join a conversation on TED Conversations >>

Or check out these conversations (and dozens more):

Tim O’Reilly asked this question:
William Gibson said “The future is here, it’s just not evenly distributed yet.” What futures have you seen that are here, but unrecognized?

Game designer Jane McGonigal (“Reality is Broken”) started this very active debate:
We spend 3 billion hours a week as a planet playing videogames. Is it worth it? How could it be MORE worth it?

RISD President John Maeda asked:
When will Google’s dominance in search end?

TEDx organizer Zeid Abdul-Hadi (A venture capitalist in Amman, Jordan) asked:
To what extent has social media contributed to the spreading of the People’s revolutions and call for Freedom in Tunisia & Egypt?
(TED Fellows including Ethan Zuckerman and Evgeny Morovoz have replied so far …)

View the original article here