CarSpace

[Hudson]

Sorry if this is a repost...but I thought some people might find this interesting:

Edmunds.com Launches CarSpace,

Automotive Lifestyle Social Networking Site

Host of Most Established Online Automotive Community Takes Bold Next Step

SANTA MONICA, Calif. – February 27, 2006 – Edmunds.com, the premier online resource for automotive information, today announces the launch of CarSpace (http://www.carspace.com), 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 dominated the online automotive community space since the 1997 launch of its Town Hall Forums, a popular 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:

o “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

o “Karl on Cars” offers readers road tests, musings and general commentary on the automotive industry by Edmunds.com’s Editor in Chief Karl Brauer

o “Straightline,” by the Inside Line editors, is the ultimate car enthusiast blog

o “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 ([email protected]), 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, including Edmunds.com True Market Value ® pricing, is generated by Edmunds.com Information Solutions and is licensed to third parties. The company 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. Edmunds.com also publishes Inside Line (www.insideline.com), a free online magazine for auto enthusiasts. 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, Calif. and maintains a satellite office in suburban Detroit.

[mute]

cardomain

[Petra]

Beat me to it, Mute... I was just about to say, "What about CarDomain?"

[Flybrian]

Yeah, why is Edmunds cribbing CarDomain and acting like they invented the genre?

If its anything like their abstract Town Hall and other content, count me out.

[Camino LS6]

Anyone else groan while reading that?

[PurdueGuy]

Anyone else groan while reading that?

yup. I just stopped reading once they claimed there was nothing like it. I kept thinking "carspace... doesn't that already exist...? hmmm... no wait, that's carDOMAIN... which is the same thing...."

[Flybrian]

Plus, CarDomian domain doesn't require Edmunds' bloated signup procedures nor do you have to endure 8 gigs of flash and javascript from a massive RIDGELINE banner to access it.