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Even My Cab Driver Uses Social Networks

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This weekend I took a flight out of town, and took a cab to the airport.  I have an odd hobby of chatting with cab drivers to get a feel for what is going on wherever I am and get a different perspective on the world than I usually get from the web2.0 and business crowd I usually hang out with.  But this conversation was not what I expected.  This cab driver was all over social networking and web2.0.  Let me share some pieces of our conversation.

Web 2.0 Quotes from a Boston Cab Driver

• I got a new 3G iPhone because I am in my cab all day and it is like a laptop for my cab.
• I use Classmates.com a lot to catch up with people from school and find old friends.
• I forgot my phone today and I am going crazy without it.  Usually I am chatting on MSN with my friends all day.
• The new Apple store in Boston is beautiful, I love it.  I love everything Apple does.
• Have you heard of Hi5? I am from Cape Verde and all my friends are on it.  I have also met new people there.  It's great. 
• Have you gone to AppleRumor.com?  I always check it out to find out what new stuff Apple might e doing.
• I can live without TV.  I cannot live without the Internet.  I am addicted to it.

I am not totally sure what this means from a marketing perspective.  But, I think one thing that it means is that more of your target audience is online and using social networks than you think.  Many marketers might assume that if you are targeting cab drivers that you would not use social networks, blogs or search engines to target them.  I think my cab driver would disagree.

Have you found any unexpected people using social networks?  Who are they?  Leave a comment below.

Posted by Mike Volpe on Wed, Aug 20, 2008 @ 08:15 AM