Brings Custom Groups to NBC2 and The Statesman – Social Driving is accelerating with more groups, more drivers and local media partners
Palo Alto, Calif. – September 29, 2010 – Waze, the popular social driving and navigation app, today released detailed visualizations of Driving Groups that have been formed in the first 30 days since the release of the new feature. These infographics articulate how people are using caravans to drive, and provides insights to the evolving segment of Social Driving. On the heels of the success of Driving Groups, Waze today extends the feature with Custom Groups for media companies, retailers, car companies, etc. which allows icons to be custom-branded and easily identified on a map for other members of that group.
Social Driving – a new trend
People want to connect on the road – it’s no fun to be alone out there – and with waze, people are given a convenient way to share really useful road information with one another. It’s like all wazers are driving as a group in a constant caravan – and they’re really loving the new sense of community they feel when hitting the road with waze open on their phone. Waze drivers can see where other caravan members are on a map, and can opt to interact with fellow drivers using Twitter or Facebook.
Custom Groups – the logical next step
Groups – 30 days after launch
4199 Groups
691 USA
2508 International
Categories
70% Social Commute (Fellow commuters along your route)
Interest (Share conditions with other swimmers, bikers etc)
Others: Lifestyle, Company, University, media and mood like Comcast employees, Firefighters, Filipinos and Sexy While Driving
Groups have formed around specific media companies, car brands, smart-phones, music and destinations. Some brands are even starting their own groups, which inspired the development of Custom Groups. The first two Custom Groups are for powerful local media brands; NBC2 and The Statesman. Waze teamed up with NBC2 in Southwest Florida and The Statesman in Austin to experiment with citizen traffic. Both companies have loyal followers who can benefit from sharing reports with one another and, as citizen traffic reporters, can help ensure they have the most up-to-date road reports. The special groups include branded icons on the map, a real-time group widget and more. NBC2 in Florida just launched its custom group and is expected to generate more traffic and road reports. This will result in additional brand engagement and community for NBC2.
The Statesman is a large daily newspaper in Austin, TX that has already launched and is promoting its custom group. In a short time it has grown to over 100 users and is one of the largest groups.
"NBC2 and The Statesman have been the perfect first partners. They are always looking for ways to innovate and we believe partnerships like these will fundamentally change the way in which traffic is reported, providing better coverage, plus a sense of community and participation – so if you’re in Southwest, FL or Austin, TX, come join the fun!" said Di-Ann Eisnor, VP Community Geographer for waze.
About Waze
Waze is a free mobile navigation application that allows drivers to build and use live maps, real-time traffic updates and turn-by-turn navigation to improve their daily commute. Waze also has a social element that gives drivers the ability to actively update one other on traffic, police traps, construction, speed cams and more – and because it’s 100% user-generated, the more people who use Waze, the better (and more fun) it gets!
Waze is available on the Apple AppStore and the Android Market Place and can be downloaded from the waze web site for Symbian, BlackBerry and Windows Mobile devices. To learn more about waze online, visit www.waze.com or @waze on Twitter