Reddit’s bustling AMA (Ask Me Anything) question-and-answer section (or “subreddit,” in Reddit parlance) is wildly popular and has attracted celebrities, captains of industry, and even sitting US Presidents. With that it mind, it doesn’t come as a shock that Tumblr wants a piece of the Q-and-A pie.
Tumblr’s new service is called Answer Time, and it lets you “[ask] musicians, artists, actors, politicians, and internet personalities exactly whatever you want to ask them,” as Tumblr puts it.
The first Tumblr Answer Time session kicks off Monday at 3pm Eastern when the band Fall Out Boy will respond to fans’ questions. Recording artist Vic Mensa and Tumblr CEO David Karp—among others—will hold Answer Time sessions in the coming days, and you can ask questions for this first wave of Answer Time sessions now.
The story behind the story: Although Tumblr’s Answer Time is similar to Reddit’s AMAs, the two companies seem to be taking significantly different approaches. Whereas Reddit’s AMA subreddit is about as open as they come—anyone with a Reddit account can start an AMA—Tumblr’s appears to be much more curated and focused on celebrity Q-and-As, at least for the time being. It’ll be interesting to see how Answer Time evolves from here, and whether the blogging service may open it up to a wider range of participants.