Cool New Projects From CarDevotion.com

Creating something on the Internet, like CarDevotion.com, is relatively easy. Note that I said ‘relatively’… but still, it’s easier and more affordable than starting a print magazine. But making it a success is much harder because the Internet is constantly changing and evolving at a ferocious rate. Basically it’s the old saying ‘swim or die’ but now its ‘swim as fast as you possibly can every second of the day or die.’

So, we here at CarDevotion are stripped down to our Speedos and paddling like mad, and we’ve got two new ideas that we’d like you to take a look at – HotorNotAuto.com and a new Facebook app called AutoBuddies.

Websters (the Internet version of hipsters) seem to love expressing their opinion by voting on things, and that’s what HotorNotAuto.com is all about. Anyone can go on the site, take a look at pictures of cars posted there and vote on a 1 to 10 scale whether that vehicle is Hot or Not. The scores for each vehicle are an average of all the votes cast and are displayed right next to the car (or truck, or motorcycle or whatever). The top-10 appear in the ‘Top Rated’ section, while the bottom-10 go to ‘The Junkyard.’ There’s also an area where you can post a more detailed opinion of the car.

If you want to post a picture of your vehicle (or your friend’s car, or a cool car you got a picture of while it was driving down the street, or whatever), you have to register by answering a few questions. People on the CarDevotion staff are posting their cars, and we’re already getting some people from car clubs and such coming to the site. We think its kind of cool, and if you think so too, please take a minute to post some interesting photo… and tell your friends about it.

The second thing is AutoBuddies, a new app that Facebook users can download and use to keep in touch with auto enthusiast friends. Choose a vehicle from The Garage (anything from a Corvette to an ice cream truck) to be Your humble Editor's AutoBuddy, named RedVett... somewhat lacking in imagination, I know... so I'm taking suggestions displayed on your Facebook page. Anyone on your friends list who has also downloaded AutoBuddies can perform a variety of actions on your car, anything from giving it a wax job to throwing an egg at it. Each time you perform an action, you earn credits that you can use to purchase accessories such as custom wheels or fuzzy dice, which you can give as gifts to your friends. Some of the latest choices include a way to express your opinion about the upcoming presidential election with bumper stickers for Hilary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain.

AutoBuddies has only been operating for a couple of days, but several hundred people have signed up already, so we seem to have hit on a good idea. Check it out at http://apps.facebook.com/autobuddies/. At the moment, all the AutoBuddies vehicles, actions and gifts are pretty much ‘generic,’ but if a car company or aftermarket manufacturer wanted to come in and work with us to have their car or product be part of AutoBuddies (sort of a cool, grass-roots way to advertise), then the guy you want to talk to is Tom Alexander is the guy you want to talk to, and he can be reached at (310) 305-2500 or via e-mail at sales@dedicatedla.com.

I hope you find HotorNotAuto.com and Facebook AutoBuddies interesting, or amusing anyway, and I’d be happy to have your feedback, suggestions and ideas for future CarDevotion projects. You can e-mail me at PFrey@CarDevotion.com.