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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.

 

Social Media Marketing Kit

comments Comments

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

COMMENTS

Wow, thats quite an experience. I tend to have the same opinion about people who have cab driver like jobs, even though hugely stereotyping a group of people. 
 
This changes my mind set about how marketing to people should be handled. Thanks for the insightful post.

posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 9:24 AM by Bryan P

Do cave men use social networks?  
 
I'm not sure why, but this reminded me of the Geico Cave man commercials. 
 
"Inbound marketing, even your cab driver responds to it. "

posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 9:49 AM by peter caputa

"I can live without TV. I cannot live without the Internet. I am addicted to it." 
 
I completely understand. My wife and I don't have a TV at all but in our house there are literally 4 computers for 2 people... But I guess that could have something to do with my profession. 3 of them are mine. 
 
But my question would have to be "how many businesses does he network with?" Does anyone really do business with someone that they network with online? Or is most online networking just for SEO? 
 
Tim

posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 10:40 AM by Computer Networking

I tend to spend more time in the old world than the new world. So, when I'm at meet and greets, shows, or just out, I'm still surprised when somebody quotes from my blog. Everybody may not be on the internet, but....

posted on Wednesday, August 20, 2008 at 8:51 PM by Rick Roberge

Taxi cab chatter (or "On the T") invite invite audio, especially if you thread a Jay-Z beat as a secondary track in the mix (plug in your iPod or iPhone in taxi for ambient noise). How about asking the person to the left and right of you 'on the T' about social media -- and gauge everyday folks about their practices. Your ethnographic research will be more accurate that political polling this election. (see Edirol/Roland | R-09HR Portable High Resolution Recorder). BTW: What was the driver's name? Why Hi5? What's his back story? Where were you going? Was traffic at a standstill? Does your phone have video capability?

posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 6:29 AM by Anne-Marie McReynolds

P.S. Should 'taxi cab driver' tweet (coupled with Brightkite or Doppler geotracking/tagging)? Can HubSpot's methodology help this entrepreneur? Should he start a mobile blog and broadcast traffic in real-time with photos (and broadcast with TwitPics)?

posted on Thursday, August 21, 2008 at 6:55 AM by Anne-Marie McReynolds

I am using linkedin. At the suggestion of Brian Rogers of Hub Spot I am exploring yahoo questions.

posted on Saturday, August 23, 2008 at 8:55 AM by All Turrisi

Comments have been closed for this article.