Facebook is an innovative way to socialize online, but a realm for sharing information and communicating existed long before Facebook came around — and no, I’m not talking about Friendster. I’m talking about the realm of the road.
Before the Web 2.0 way of doing things, people used bumper stickers and decals to express the details of their lives. So if Facebook perishes in the future, don’t worry — there’s an old-school way to express yourself to the masses. In this article, I’m going to address the three best ways cars are capable of communicating Facebook-esque information.
Facebook devotes a whole section to a user’s interests and favorite things to do. A friend can browse your page and discover you’re one of the 12 million people on Facebook who like “Twilight” or one of the thousand people who like trapper keepers. (Someone’s going to have to explain that one to me.) But think about it: Cars parade around the drivers’ interests, as well. Consider the car below:
Apparently, this person likes diving, Earth, healthy eating, Apple products, short people, and covering important life investments with stickers. Bumper stickers and Facebook interests are a lot alike. Now all we have left to do is slap a “Facebook Like” on every car with awesome decals.
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Relationship Status/Family
Oh, the family-oriented. You know the type: the Facebook friend with a professional photo of her baby grinning as her profile picture or the acquaintance who was recently tagged in 47,000 wedding pictures. These people are proud of their relatives, and they love flooding the news feed with tragically forced family portraits.
You can show off your family while driving, too, and people have been doing it for years. They stick little decals of adults, children, and even pets to their car windows in order to display their families’ character.
Instead of posting a picture of their baby for all to see, they put a “Baby on Board!” sign in the passenger window. Now everyone knows your neighbors have two boys, one baby girl, and a dog that looks to be a mix between Labrador retriever and an ink blot test.
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Political/Religious Views
Religious and political views passively hang out on a person profile all year, but that’s not enough. Many people have to voice their specific opinions on political policy by joining groups or posting political status updates.
Bumper stickers can play the same role. When an election is just around the corner, drivers love displaying their political stances on their bumpers for all to see. It doesn’t matter if it’s on the Internet or out in public — people want their voices heard.
Conclusion
These aren’t the only things cars and Facebook have in common. People who paint, “Happy 16th Birthday!” or, “Just Married!” on their cars are essentially announcing events in the classic Facebook manner. People who read your bumper sticker and let you into their lane are basically clicking “like.”
Communication and interaction might not be as explicit while driving as it is while posting on Facebook, but it definitely exists. If Facebook ever crashes, rest assured, we can always scramble to buy thousands of bumper stickers and create a mobile profile. Or we can just use Google+.
Using Facebook while driving can be dangerous for your car insurance quotes . The same can be said for reading bumper stickers. We’ve all inched a little too close in an effort to read that hilarious tiny print. So, stay safe out there drivers, and enjoy the conversation.
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