Social network fatigue afflicts all of us at some time or another.

And equally, shiny new networks attract attention from the fatigued.

I just took a five day sabbatical from Twitter as a sort of Christmas truce offering to my family. It was a great Christmas.

It reinvigorated my enthusiasm for the Twitter upon my return. No two days are ever the same on there and I owe lots to Twitter.

However, during that rest period I became more restless on Quora ;)

I think it’s superb. It’s like Yahoo Answers without the design odour of the 90’s..

It’s Like LinkedIn without the blatant self interest. Like Facebook without the nauseating inaneness. Like Formspring without the seedy anonymity. 

And it’s attracting a lot of attention.

But it’s much more than unlike other networks with their negatives.

..hits the sweetspot of functionality and integration..

It sports a fine UX and hits the sweetspot of functionality and integration with other networks without a sensation of page clutter, but more than anything, it’s the community that determines its appeal.

Prominent tech bloggers have covered it and play there, as has the tech press and the wider media who have reported it. Marketing types are arriving, advocating it and pulling with them more devoted users all the time.

I took a little tour of Google Trends to see how it’s adoption is stacking up.

Let’s not forget Formspring is some 20 million users strong so the scales which show worldwide search volume in this graph above only hint at that upward December 2010 curve from Quora denoted by the red line.

If we then take a closer look at Google Trends for Quora for the last 30 days, we can see a much more noticeable lift:

Now, let’s look a closer at the Silicon Valley effect.

So, if we now split this data to a regional level, to USA search traffic, and display the December 2009 Formspring equivalent boom period for USA traffic…

…and then compare that to the recent few days of the Quora take off..

…whoosh, you can appreciate the difference in that steepness of the curve.

the Quora adoption curve sets a new steepness precedent..

I know it’s very hard to compare periods as conditions, even in 24 months in tech and social media are so changeable and there are probably many other yardsticks to look at.

The possiblities for amplification of a message via the likes of the now engorged Twitter compared to two years ago is significant, but nonetheless the take off of Quora is remarkable and it does feel like it has real momentum.

Infact the new arrivees, the buzz, and the growing pains that are being generated is already being noticed during december 2010.

It will certainly be interesting to see how Quora develops in 2011.

What do you think of Quora? Will it flatline or ramp up in 2011?

ps. You a Chrome user? Want to install the unofficial Quora Chrome extension?  This is how you find, download and install it: http://screenr.com/iIu