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Jim Motavalli

Networking on wheels: Honk.com, the car shopping site for Facebook fans

Honk.com combines buying cars and social networking, letting you know what your peers think about more than 300 car models on sale today.

Fri, Mar 19 2010 at 9:58 AM EST
 11

 
What do people really think about cars? Is what comes out of their mouths the same thing that’s in their hearts? In my experience, no, and I’ll cite what I know about SUVs to make my point.
 
The madness seems to be abating now, but SUV fever had a grip on the country for quite a while. Asked why they bought a huge, lumbering tank to get the groceries and take two kids to school, people invariably said, “I like to sit up high” or “I have two dogs.” Asked why they didn’t just buy a minivan instead, SUV buyers wrinkled their noses and said something about not wanting to be seen as a “soccer mom,” though the problem with these civic-minded souls has always escaped me.
 
In reality, a minivan would suit most of the needs of most people with kids much better, but (despite everybody having them) SUVs somehow projected an iconoclastic, freedom-loving image. Even if they didn’t go off road, it was somehow reassuring that they could. Tom Taira, a former marketing guy and product planner on the giant Toyota Sequoia, told me, “People had the mindset that bigger is better, and they thought they needed a giant armored something to get around — even though they never went off road or really needed the ability to carry stuff. But buying a minivan is crossing a chasm.”
 
Taira doesn’t market Sequoias anymore. He is, in fact, the co-founder and CEO of Honk.com, which combines car buying with social networking. The idea is to share public opinion, not just the professional viewpoints guys like me sling around. “When people buy cars, they spend a lot of time — maybe 20 hours — researching the market. They become mini-experts in their own right,” he said.
 
On Honk, they can share their expertise with peers. I still have to ask if they’ll tell the unvarnished truth, or offer the same kinds of received opinion that characterized discourse about SUVs. Are people honest online?
 
The analogy Taira makes is between Travelocity, which sells you tickets, and Trip Advisor, which offers real people’s stories about actually traveling and staying in places. The site has applications for Facebook and MySpace, and on the former you can tell your auto history on “Cars I’ve Owned.”
 
At the popular auto sites, Taira said, it might be a sports car guy who got stuck writing the family sedan review. He’s not into it and he doesn’t relate to the car’s customers. Honk.com is trying to aggregate the unfiltered emotional reactions of real people to the cars they’re seeing in the marketplace, and making them available to others. That and making a buck — it’s a for-profit site that sells both advertising and market data.
 
Users can enter their hobbies and interests, and then narrow their search criteria to include only eco-cars or station wagons. And they can post as many opinions as they’d like. Honk’s “social recommendation engine” is designed to help people find cars based on “who they are as an individual,” not just on body type and price.
 
I looked up the Honda Fit, which I happen to own, and there was Brian Takita, who rode in one and liked it. Asked how he’d improve the Fit, he said, “Better gas mileage. For such a small car, I would expect much better gas mileage. The engine is also small and not very powerful. I agree with Mikey’s review, about it needing a Hybrid model.” Sorry I missed Mikey’s review, because, ahem, in my professional opinion, he’s right — a hybrid Fit would be pretty cool. It’s long rumored, too.
 
Robert Ford “loves curves,” which may be why he is unsure about his friend’s Volkswagen Jetta wagon. “In my mind,” he says, “this is the basic wagon. It has some very nice features, interior materials and interior volume compared to relative body size, but there is nothing that makes me say, ‘Holy cow dude, you got a Jetta!’ Maybe if I owned one I would feel differently, and I have considered it in the past, but for now I just think they are pretty neat.”
 
These unfiltered opinions are indeed interesting, and probably useful to auto companies that don’t get a lot of useful data. They send out surveys that don’t yield much information.
 
Honk.com “is a destination,” Taira said. We’ll see about that. Every start-up guy wants his website to be a destination. I did go there, but what do I know—I’m one of those paid hacks Taira was talking about.
 
It's well-known that more and more people are shopping for cars online, and this video talks about where they're going to get their information:
 
 
MNN homepage photo: mevans/iStockphoto
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Related Topics: Facebook, Financial Crisis, Green Technology, Social Responsibility

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anonymous
Mike 05/10/2011 03:56 AM

I tried honk, was actually realy good, at least the user interface was great. It had a few bugs but overall, very impressed! smoke remedy

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anonymous
Emma 04/17/2011 04:09 AM

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anonymous
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You can buy facebook fans for pennies at http://www.socialfansinc.com/

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anonymous
smith 05/06/2010 08:54 AM

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anonymous
smith 05/05/2010 07:53 AM

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anonymous
case sensitive 03/26/2010 15:33 PM

the fit is a great car that does NOT need a hybrid option. it needs a turbo option. forget the extra expense of a second motor, batteries, regenerative brakes, etc. a simple turbo upgrade would give the fit plenty of power, and still retain the great fuel economy it gets. or even better yet, give it a turbo diesel!

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anonymous
Alli Jori 03/23/2010 04:51 AM

I read your post. I m great fan of SUVand i ihave also own My SUV. With 9 seater. I n My SUV Special space in back for waiting room. It was really a hybird Car or even Better. I have 4 kids. My did not fit in small car. So ihave Choose Ford "ENDERVAOUR" Thi is Great and amazing SUV.

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anonymous
LipSense 12/06/2010 00:59 AM

LipSense :LipsDiva.com is an Independent distributor of LipSense and SeneGence. Lipsdiva.com specializes in long lasting cosmetic products range that can last between 4 and 12 hours. For more information, visit our website http://lipsdiva.com/ or call toll free 1-866-211-LIPS (5477).

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anonymous
Fire pit glass 12/04/2010 00:37 AM

Fire pit glass:Blazing Glass offers fireplace glass and fire pit glass to give indoor and outdoor entertaining areas a new life and a modern look! We have 30 colors and styles of fireplace glass and fire pit glass to choose from.

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anonymous
Bridget 03/22/2010 14:23 PM

I'm not an SUV fan. I would LOVE to have an 8 or 9 seater minivan w/ room for groceries in back -- especially if it was a hybrid, or even better, a plug-in electric.
But none of those exist.
I have 6 kids. We just don't fit into a small car. If I keep my '95 Toyota Previa w/ 310,000 miles (7 seater), who do I choose to leave home?
So, we're currently seeking a used Toyota Sequoia. It's way bigger & heavier than necessary, but seats 8 & still has cargo space. .... More

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New York Times contributor blogs about green transportation.

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