Introducing Talkshow Q&A: a simple way to ask (or answer) anything.

When we introduced Talkshow in April, we had one goal: help people have entertaining and enlightening messaging conversations with their friends…in public. Since we launched we’ve seen friends talk about the election, the playoffs, what’s on TV or what’s happening in their lives; as well as author interviews, sketch comedy performances, long-running quiz shows, creative storytelling, and, of course, conversations about Pokémon Go.

Since our launch, we’ve also seen a bunch of Talkshow hosts begin their show by saying “ask me anything!” and then prompting their audience to request to be a co-host of the show with their questions. We wanted to make this easier for hosts, as well as their audience, and so today we’re introducing Talkshow Q&A.

Talkshow Q&A is a new feature that allows anyone to turn their Talkshow into a fun and simple Q&A with their audience.

Q&As are easy to host. When you host a Talkshow you can turn on Q&A and set a custom prompt that your audience will see in the show. You can use the default prompt of “Ask anything,” or write one of your own, like “Tell us your cooking disaster” or “What’s your current summer jam?” or “What’s your Pokémon strategy?” Anyone tuning into the show will see the prompt at the bottom of the screen and can tap to respond.

Here’s how it works for the audience:

Responding to a Q&A on Talkshow

Talkshow Q&A keeps the host in control of the show. Only the host (and co-hosts) can see the Q&A submission, and decide which ones to publish into the show and respond to, with a simple swipe gesture. And when a submission is accepted, the audience member who provided it will get a push notification letting them know it’s been posted into the show.

Here’s how it works for hosts:

Reviewing, accepting and responding to Q&A as a Talkshow host

We think Talkshow is now the best place to host Q&As on the Internet: they’re easy to host, easy to participate in, and easy to read — either as they happen, or after the fact. We’re looking forward to seeing how Talkshow hosts make this feature their own — whether that’s through interviews that allow for audience participation, individual users hosting their own personal AMAs, from anywhere, or topic-based shows about cooking or music or Pokemon that allow the audience to submit questions or ideas to the show hosts.

Want more information about how Q&A works on Talkshow? Check out our help doc. Want to get started hosting a Talkshow with a Q&A? Download the latest update at get.talkshow.im.