social networking is being used to connect both people whom know each other and those who don't. many sites have a niche in the social networking society like college students, business professionals, singles (white, black, green, and blue), musicians..and the list goes on.
i'm sure there exists a social network for everything you are interested and anything you might hold in common with somebody. just when you thought this was the case...then there came another social network.
what do we have today? GoLoco.
GoLoco is a social networking site started by one of the founders of Zip Car which " is a service that helps people quickly arrange ride sharing between friends, neighbors, and colleagues. We also handle online payments from passengers to drivers for their share of the trip costs." -goloco.org
weirded out yet?
How Does it Work? -- GoLoco enables users to create a profile which has a picture of them, their interests, hobbies, friends (users), and college/university/employer with which they are associated.
On your profile you also post trips you are going on or trips you want to go on. This allows users to search through all the trips posted on the website and find a ride to a place where they too are going. Whether you're going somewhere, or want to get a ride to somewhere you post to either find a ride or give one. What i find to be interesting about GoLoco is that if you're somebody who has a car and can get somewhere on his/her own...the incentive is that you can charge for a ride to/from where you're going.
"While you can pick people up just for the sake of it, the website is also set up with money in mind. If you choose not to do it for free, the passenger pays a share of the total cost - and it will be deposited in the driver’s account (with the exception of 10%, which goes to the website) before you even meet each other. Assuming the driver doesn’t just ditch and keep the money, one person has gotten the ride they needed and the other now has more cash." - GoLoco Blog Write-Up
This is an interesting concept and use of a social network in that it can definitely help the environment out...less cars on the road, but it can also save somebody some money if they're going somewhere that somebody else needs to go.
While all this sounds find and dandy..the real question is how safe is finding somebody to carpool with online? At the inception of online dating - many were skeptical about meeting people whom they met online in person in a crowded restaurant in downtown DC. How do you feel about SoccerDude928 who you meet online coming to your house and you getting in their car for a 3 hour trip up to Philadelphia?
luckily -- GoLoco has thought about the safety aspect and has enabled users who have ridden with people to post comments and ratings about them. So if BeerBoy82 rode with JBWilson last week from DC to Annapolis he can write "Bad driver, smokes with the windows up -- don't recommend." Also, you can view people you have in common so if you see your friend Bill is a friend of SoccerDude928's then you can ask Bill about it. Thirdly, one of the important safety features is that if worst comes to worst....GoLoco sends your trip plans to a "secure buddy" that you have designated (friend, girlfriend, neighbor...) so that if you don't show up after 8 days at least somebody has some idea of who you drove with and to where.
even with the aforementioned safety restrains in place...i still feel like though its a great concept, it requires a lot of users to be signed up and a lot of feedback to be available in order for people to feel comfortable enough to drive with SoccerDude928. I just don't think we're quite ready to instill this kind of trust...yet in an age where somebody we require to have 90%+ feedback before we dare buy a $14 dollar item from them on eBay!
....a comment on one of the writeups I saw regarding GoLoco stated, "Why don’t they just make a website where you volunteer to get raped and dismembered? It’d save a step."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
I found this blog post chilling to say the least. I find it very disturbing and irrisponsible for a web site to promote car rides with strangers. This is dangerous and the foundation for disaster. As far as the rating system - anyone can manipulate e-bay to get great rates. On the internet people can sign in with new identites. People can create a network to give themselves stars. I grew up with a State Trooper in the house and this seems to be the mix of all the ingredients for a dangerous situation.
This is a great idea, but it is a little risky. You don't really know if the person is really going to give a ride or if they are going to keep the money. Also, they should do some kind of saftey features. For example, they could start a rating system like on ebay, the more rides you give the better your score. It would also be great to see who rides the best.
Linas - As I mentioned in the posting..GoLoco already has this system in place but as Stephanie highlighted it still has many flaws.
I wouldn't go as far as to say that this is a foundation for disaster, but it's definitely a service that I'd think twice about. Although I'm a skeptic of meeting people online and then actually meeting them in person, I can understand circumstances in which people would feel comfortable (e.g. meeting at the Smithsonian, Georgetown or some other very public place). A vehicle, however, can be considered much more of an "intimate" place.. it's just you, your passengers, and the road. Even if there's other people on the road, you're still in a closed quarters with a stranger. I know that the feedback system can minimize this, but it's definitely not a service that I'd ever consider using...
You got to be kidding???!!! This sounds just like a dating service to me. Well...I guess the name says it all.
I am not really sure If I would want to have a ride with anybody, especially if it's a stranger whom you might not even know...but I guess there is all kinds of different people out there.
This is very typical in Europe, but nowadays people are being more careful with whom they are riding. I cannot imagine riding with somebody you do not know, especially in the US.
My advise for your safetY...Take a BUS and pay the inexpensive price rather than being in danger.
Benjamin
Alex,
While I am not surprised to hear about this website, I don't like it. It think it is cool to see the different ways the people are using new technology, but to me the biggest concern would be the safety of the users. While the secure buddy is a nice concept, it does not seem like it could possible be effective.
-Ryan
I'm little bit surprise. Although riding with SoccerDude928 is kind of denegorous since you do not really know him, people still take the risk to save some money. On the other hand, some people might think of it the same way they think about taxies despite the fact that taxies kind of safe.
I find the 8 days alittle disturbing...thats a long time...I think this whole idea is werid and why would i want to drive with someone i never met int odays world
hahaha I completely agree. That last quote that you have in your post is almost exactly what I thought when I first started reading about this site. This website is every perverts dream. What a jackpot it must be for them to see that that are 3 under-age girls trying to go to Miami for Spring Break. Good lord. Much like Facebook is partnering with Jobster, I think that this site should have to partner with the national registry for sex offenders.
But all of this makes me laugh a little. It's just funny to me that there is absolutely no faith in our fellow man any more. The first thing that comes to so many peoples minds when they hear about a site like this is "oh man, how is this going to get me raped or killed" hahaha
Post a Comment