This site mentioned on Tech Crunch today reminds me a lot of Twitter. If plank.ly ever gains any traction it could very well be the next Twitter. When Twitter first started it wasn’t all that great, not many people used it until a couple famous people started using it. Let’s face it, without famous people to get Twitter started it probably wouldn’t be where it is today.

I copied the post directly from Tech Crunch and pasted it below for your convenience.

Formspring.me has quickly gained popularity as a social question and answer portal that allows anyone to ask you questions, and gives you a platform to answer them, simulating an interview format. Today, the co-founder of TinyChat is launching a similar question and answer platform, called Plank.ly, that includes a more social format and video integration.

Plank.ly’s free web service lets users and business’s create designated pages where they can receive input from others in a simple and easy format. The input they receive can be rated, sorted and responded to individually. Co-founder Dan Blake compares it to Seesmic mixed with Formspring, Digg and Twitter.

You or any visitor to your profile can rate unanswered questions up or down, with more popular questions surfacing to the top of the page. You can also make your pages completely private (similar in format to Twitter’s protected accounts), and you can post video questions and answers.The site also allows users to customize their profiles and features deep Facebook and Twitter integration. In fact, Plank.ly encourages users to sign in with their Facebook and Twitter usernames instead of creating a standalone log-in to the site.

Blake says that with the traction and success that Q&A startups like Formspring and Quora are seeing, he and his co-founders felt like there was an opportunity to create a similar platform. Blake co-founded the company with Cole Turner and Ryan Hileman.

The question is whether there is room for all of these Q&A startups in the space, or will some eventually drop-out of the race because they can’t build out enough of an audience. And Facebook just entered the space, announcing its plans to launch an Aardvark-like Q&A product within the social network. Plank.ly plans to monetize the site through advertising but hasn’t turned on any revenue streams yet.

With so many big video sites on the website – including, but not limited to YouTube, UStream.com and TinyChat – there has been a new method of gaining traffic revealed. It’s known as video marketing and is still in its infancy. Because of this, it is important to dedicate funds for this method of advertising because it is only going to grow in size and the sooner you get in on it, the more reward you’ll be able to reap. However, using it properly can be a little intimidating, especially for those that have never done it before.

This is a guide to make it easier to use video for traffic.

• Decide what type of video you want to make or have made. For example, do you want it to be a video that is humorous and spreads around because of humor or do you want it to be a video that provides detailed information on a very specific topic. If you owned a political site, do you want something funny about the President or something detailed about one of the policies he is trying to get passed?
• Begin making it. For most videos, you can do it simply from your computer by using the webcam or setting up a video camera on a tripod so it is aimed at you. However, the video is going to be very rudimentary and demonstrate how amateur it is. Therefore, getting someone to handle the camera for you or having a third party company make the video will allow for different angles and shots to be taken resulting in a more professional look.
• Add a section at the end of the video that details who you are. This could include an e-mail address or a website URL. While it can’t be clicked, people can see it and type it into their URL bar at the top of their web browser.
• Submit it to video sites. YouTube is obviously the best because they have a considerable amount of traffic and, because it is owned by Google, is continuing to grow. Therefore, submitting the video there is a good way of getting people to see it.
• Create a channel for your website so that people can check in when you submit a new video. This way, you can submit a new video and the people will get an e-mail update that you have submitted a video. This way, you’re developing a little community within your video submissions.

Getting in on the amount of traffic that comes from video marketing is an incredibly important decision and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. It is necessary that you create videos that provide worth for the person watching it. Whether that worth is through humor or through general information is irrelevant; so long as the viewer walks away remembering it even a little bit, the video has been a success. They’re more likely to come back to check out your site as well as your videos.