By now you’re probably very familiar with seeing Questions in your Facebook news feed. The tool, which we reported on a few weeks ago (Facebook Page: New Question Feature), allows individuals and Facebook page administrators to post polls on their Facebook profile or business page.

Facebook says the tool was “designed so that anyone on Facebook can help you find the answer. For example, when you ask a question and your friends answer or follow, their friends can see and answer it, too.”

Curious about this tool’s potential, a month ago we tested it out on a Facebook page which has a community of 100,000 fans.

The question we presented went as follows:

Which of the following best describes your relationships to breast cancer?

a) A Survivor (you were diagnosed and overcame)

b) A Caregiver/Friend (of someone diagnosed)

c) A Supporter (of someone lost to breast cancer)

d) A General Supporter of a great cause

e) A Patient (currently diagnosed and fighting)

The poll received 407 votes (a.k.a. responses) from a community of over 100,000 page fans. Surprisingly the post also created 44 new page fans and 13 comments.

That got our heads spinning with questions…

• How does response to a Facebook Question compare to the response of a typical status update or link post?

• How often will community members take part in a Question poll?

• What kinds of Questions encourage more discussion?

So many questions, so little data!

We decided to take action and make May Asking Smarter “Questions” on Facebook Month.

Our goal? To explore the functionality of the Facebook “Question” feature.

During this month we’ll ask questions on the breast cancer page using Facebook Questions in order to assess how the Question poll option works as an engagement tool. Throughout the next four weeks we’ll monitor levels of response and produce a blog series covering each week’s results. The question topic will be Facebook community communication and engagement.

For the first three Tuesdays of this month, we will post a poll question. Responses will then be collected from Tuesday through the following week.

We‘ll begin with our first question today. Come back next week for the results.