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CarSpace - Social Networking With an Auto Flair
Online
social networking sites are sweeping the Web at remarkable
speed making it easier for people to connect and reconnect
with friends via cyberspace. We knew it wouldn't be
long until someone picked up on the trend and figured
a way to tie into the automotive sphere. Edmunds.com,
a well-known automotive online resource, recently announced
the launch of CarSpace,
an automotive lifestyle social networking Web site for
anyone with an interest in automobiles. At CarSpace,
each member can express an automotive identity and meet
friends who share automotive interests.
"Online
social networks like FaceBook, Friendster, LinkedIn
and MySpace are very popular, yet none specifically
taps into the automotive world the way CarSpace does,"
said Matthew Kumin, executive vice president and general
manager of Edmunds.com Media. "Last year's successful
launch of our online automotive enthusiast magazine
Inside Line demonstrated just how active the automotive
community can be in response to an exciting product.
We're confident CarSpace will garner a massive following
of consumers and industry insiders."
Edmunds.com
has been a leader in online automotive "community
space" since the launch of its Town Hall Forums,
a place where automotive hobbyists and enthusiasts share
their experiences. In introducing CarSpace, Edmunds.com
leverages nearly a decade of online community-building
experience to offer members a variety of exciting options
that have been unavailable until now.
"CarSpace
introduces more functionality and innovation to the
online automotive community," said Sylvia Marino,
senior director of CarSpace. "Our vision for CarSpace
is that everyone interested in automobiles and the Internet
will link together and share photos, opinions and information
about their favorite cars through this dynamic new medium."
Features
of CarSpace include:
Friends — This favorite
feature of social networking sites allows members to
create and manage their own network of automotive friends.
Members can invite an unlimited number of friends to
join and link to friends found in the system, then can
share experiences and easily send and receive friends'
messages.
Searchable Member Profiles — Profiles of members can include cars they currently
own, cars they are interested in, automotive interests,
hobbies and demographic information. Member profiles
are searchable based on all these criteria so new friendships
can be forged. In addition, members will also be able
to provide user IDs for their AOL and Yahoo! instant
messaging screen names in order to achieve instant online
availability status.
Groups — Discussion
groups are focused on specific vehicles of interest,
vehicle types and themes such as car safety and performance
modifications. These groups are built upon the foundation
of Edmunds' popular Town Hall Forums.
Blogs — CarSpace
hosts four blogs, each of which invites member participation:
- "The Driving Women," by the female editors
at Edmunds.com, discusses best cars, dealing with dealers,
family safety and a wide variety of other topics
- "Strategies for Smart Car Buyers," by the
Edmunds.com consumer advice editors and industry analysts,
discusses tips and advice on buying, selling and leasing
- Photos - Members can upload photos and create photo
albums, and browse and search other members' photo albums.
- Mailbox - Each registered user will be provided with
a personalized e-mail account (username@carspace.com),
along with 50 MB of storage space for photos and messages.
For more information or to begin building a network
of automotive friends, visit www.carspace.com.
About
Edmunds.com, Inc.
Edmunds.com is the premier online resource for automotive
information. Its comprehensive set of data, tools and
services is generated by Edmunds.com Information Solutions
and is licensed to third parties and used by over 15,000
cars dealers including 98 of the 100 dealers named to
the Ward's Dealer Business "e-Dealer 100"
list. Perhaps the most popular consumer product, Edmunds.com
True Market Value® pricing, is relied upon by millions
of people seeking market-reflective valuations for new
and used vehicles. The company also supplies content
for the auto sections of NYTimes.com, AOL, CNN.com and
About.com; provides weekly data to Automotive News;
and delivers monthly data reports to Wall Street analysts.
In addition, Edmunds.com publishes Inside Line (www.insideline.com),
a free high-speed online magazine for auto enthusiasts,
and CarSpace (www.carspace.com), an automotive lifestyle
social networking Web site for anyone with an interest
in automobiles. Edmunds.com was named "Best Car
Research Site" by Forbes ASAP, has been selected
by consumers as the "Most Useful Web Site"
according to every J.D. Power and Associates New Autoshopper.com
StudySM, was ranked first in the Survey of Car-Shopping
Web Sites by The Wall Street Journal and was rated number
one in Keynote's study of third-party automotive web
sites. The company is headquartered in Santa Monica,
California, and maintains a satellite office in suburban
Detroit. |
