Social networking web sites seem to be one of the hot things on the internet these days. Zipcar's marketing appeal to the digital generation never ceases to amaze me and they have been very astute about using digital media.
I'd seen enthusiastic blog posts about Zipcar elsewhere, such as Miss Rogue's enthusiastic "Why I heart Zipcar". Yesterday, looking for something else entirely, I came across a ZIPKARMA, which bills itself as an "unofficial Zipcar fan site". It was an interesting mix of member and non-member comments about various aspects of the Zipcar experience. The website says it was "Started by fans for fans of Zipcar, this is where Zipsters meet!"
For example, there was a post of Zipcar coming to Vancouver, BC and the competition between the "beloved local carsharing co-op" and Zipcar ("competition is good"), as well as similar discussion of competition between Philly Carshare and Flexcar. I've seen other good discussions about the pros and cons of various services on Yelp.com, as well.
Some of the comments on Zipkarma were so enthusiastic my first reaction was that the posts, if not the whole website, was planted by Zipcar marketing department. (It wasn't too long ago that Zipcar staff was "outed" for posting comments anonymously on blogs - such as trying to spin about their (lack of) insurance coverage). Certainly many companies have created bogus Facebook accounts to promote movies and products.
Zipkarma is hosted by Ning.com, an interesting social networking web platform.
So, check out Tara Hunt's interesting Zipkarma website.
