“Would you rather fight 1 horse-sized duck or 100 duck sized horses?”

A common question posed of the online community forum known as reddit. Reddit, among its vast amounts of “subreddits” has what is refereed to as an AMA (ask me anything) in which reddit users can ask any question to willing participants. 

As I write this blog entry there are currently AMA’s from a delivery driver from a Sub chain, Vancouver band “Said the Whale” and Robert Reich, a former Secretary of Labour.

Within all of the submissions for AMA’s most tend to deal with “Non-celebrities” who are there for purely a question and answer on a specific topic. However A few times a day someone joins the forum to promote an upcoming project or event, or if they do not have one to simply promote themselves. In recent months A-list celebrities from Woody Harrelson, Morgan Freeman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Snoop Lion (nee Dogg) have used the site to promote upcoming projects.

While this format is reminiscent of a traditional interview or late night talk show, the biggest difference is that rarely do the questions pertain to their project, instead most users ask questions regarding personal facts of their lives, previous works and compliments; in response the interviewee commonly respond with little tidbits of their lives and personal anecdotes that have rarely been heard before.

The Over-arching theme of an AMA is honesty, and a lack of promotion. For example Harrelson and Freeman both joined their AMA’s and simply talked about their upcoming films and neglected answering any personal questions; this may work on traditional media but not here. These AMA’s were widely panned and resulted in negative responses to both of their films, however in the case Gordon-Levitt and Snoop they gain popularity for their projects and receive additional promotion through users who experienced positive emotions with the AMA.

In the basic terms an AMA is an advertisement, if the interviewee is honest and engaging users will be more likely to promote the projects within their online circles, however if they are not users will not spread any sources of promotion.

An AMA is a tricky form of marketing, however done right and it can create a personal bond between users and the interviewee, that can result in increased success for an upcoming project.

*Extra* the best responses from Robin Williams AMA this week:

http://www.businessinsider.com/robin-williams-reddit-ama-2013-9