{"id":8035,"date":"2018-05-10T10:37:47","date_gmt":"2018-05-10T10:37:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordlift.io\/blog\/en\/?p=8035"},"modified":"2021-11-03T16:13:37","modified_gmt":"2021-11-03T15:13:37","slug":"quora-natural-language-processing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordlift.io\/blog\/en\/quora-natural-language-processing\/","title":{"rendered":"How Natural Language Processing and Structured Data Make Quora Smarter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anywhere we look, there is an area where Artificial Intelligence<\/a> is changing the rules of the game. From personal assistants that are changing the way we interact with machines; to self-driving cars and diagnostics systems that can diagnose certain diseases more accurately than doctors. That isn\u2019t only due to the buzz of the media (that also contributes). This is due instead to the fact that AI is a vast area that touches several disciplines.<\/p>\n

In this article, I want to show you how a field of Artificial Intelligence, called Natural Language Processing<\/a> (NLP) helped Quora to become one of the most popular Q&A sites in the world. In fact, NLP has become so critical to Quora that it also has open vacancies for NLP engineers<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

As WordLift was born as a university project<\/a> from a Natural Language Processing research, we always look for best practices to see how the industry is evolving and helping the web become smarter.<\/p>\n

Natural Language Processing applications<\/h2>\n

The main aim of NLP is to help computers\u2019 program to process large amounts of natural language data by making sense of that. On platforms like Quora, with hundreds of millions of users keeping the quality of its content high is critical.<\/p>\n

As specified on Quora engineering blog<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

Hundreds of millions of people use Quora to discover high-quality answers to questions important to them. The quality of our content and the civility of our community are two important factors that make Quora special. We want to maintain that quality even as billions of people start using Quora.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The most effective way to be able to keep high-quality standards, while growing the user base is the ability to process that data in a way that makes it more valuable to its users. In fact, as explained further:<\/p>\n

Such a rich dataset puts us in a unique position to use various Natural Language Processing (NLP) techniques to solve exciting problems critical to our success.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

How\u2019s Quora applying NLP? Here are 13 interesting ways.<\/p>\n

Start using NLP on your website today!<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Get Started with WordLift ?<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Answer Quality<\/h2>\n

Quality is critical for any platform to survive. For a Q&A platform like Quora, this is even more important. In fact, where users contribute all Quora content, how does it make sure to keep its quality high? First, we must define quality. Quora looks at things like writing style, readability, completeness, and trustworthiness.<\/p>\n

This is a ranking issue. In fact, Quora has to look at many variables and give it a ranking based on its relevance and helpfulness such that most helpful answers show at the top.<\/p>\n

To define the relevance an helpfulness Quora it needs to have five properties<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n