Facebook Wednesday began a public test of its new `Facebook Questions' service which allows users to ask a question that can be answered by anyone in the Facebook community.

The questions that any user asks, using the "Ask Question" button on a user's profile, can be seen not only by all the friends of the user, but the entire Facebook community as well. While asking the questions, users can also avail the option of adding a photo or poll to the question; thereby facilitating the process of fetching opinions on any specific topic - personal or otherwise.

Furthermore, questions posed using the `Facebook Questions' service can also be tagged as a particular topic, to be shown to users who have expressed an interest in that topic. Any question posed on the site is searchable, and can be read and answered by any user.

The `Facebook Questions' service spells potential competition - which will likely be a fierce one because of the over 500 million Facebook users - for some of the other question and answer sites, like Ask. com and Yahoo Answers.

Noting that "`Facebook Questions' helps you tap into the collective knowledge of the more than 500 million people on Facebook," the social networking site's director of product, Blake Ross, said in an official blog post: "Because questions will also appear to your friends and their friends, you'll receive answers that are more personalized to you."