Ask Broadway a Question on VYou.com

James Sims is the Senior Editor of BroadwayWorld.com. Sofa Snark is an ongoing critical blog focusing on all aspects of show business, from television entertainment to Broadway offerings and general pop culture.  This column also appears on the Huffington Post and SofaSnark.com.  Follow James on Twitter @simsjames for daily show business links, musings and a bit of snark.

After hearing about the new online venture VYou.com from a co-worker, I decided to give it a try. Billed as a combination of YouTube, Twitter and Formspring -- the latter being a service I never quite warmed up to -- I figured it might be interesting to try out its angle on connecting people to subject matter experts. Essentially, the site allows anybody to create a video profile page and then solicit questions from anyone and everyone. Want to ask former MTV host Dave Holmes a question about the whacky VJ Jesse Camp, he's on VYou. Curious when the last time was that filmmaker Kevin Smith had a smoke? Ask him on VYou.

An interesting mix of well-known figures and the typical Facebook crowd, VYou.com has created interesting potential for audience engagement. Ignoring the personal and somewhat unfiltered users, there is an opportunity for companies to create a VYou.com profile and provide video answers to inquiring minds. Why not have a Broadway show get its actors to sit down after or before a performance and answer a few questions from the fans? Putting video into the equation makes it slightly more personal -- at least in theory -- than a simple Tweet.

On that note, should you have any questions to throw my way -- I'm willing to talk about personal or showbiz stuff -- feel free to check out my VYou profile. Could be interesting.