Parlio

Parlio was a social discussion platform founded in 2014 by Egyptian entrepreneur Wael Ghonim — the activist behind the Facebook page 'We Are All Khaled Said' that helped catalyze the 2011 Egyptian revolution. The platform was designed to enable meaningful, civil online conversations that presented multiple sides of contentious issues, allowing users to form their own informed conclusions. Parlio focused on political, social, and cultural debates, hosting discussions on topics such as race, free speech, the 2016 US elections, the refugee crisis, and the relationship between Islam and terrorism. Unlike mainstream social networks, Parlio emphasized quality over virality, working with experts and public figures to elevate the discourse. The platform opened to the general public in early 2015 and raised $1.68 million in seed funding from investors including Betaworks, Founder Collective, Marissa Mayer, and Wesley Chan. In March 2016, Quora — a Q&A platform with over 100 million monthly users — announced its acquisition of Parlio, marking Quora's first-ever acquisition. Following the acquisition, users could no longer post new content on Parlio, though existing content remained accessible, and select content was republished on Quora. The Parlio founding team joined Quora to continue their mission of growing and sharing knowledge at greater scale.