Automotive fans cruising social networks

The Detroit News: Automotive fans cruising social networks
As the 2011 Woodward Dream Cruise approaches, Detroit area auto aficionados are hitting social networks and online forums to find out the latest news on the Cruise.

The mediums, including Twitter and Facebook, have allowed attendees to get a jump on celebrating the classic Cruise along Woodward before Aug. 20.

"When I'm out there and I see something I like, I'll take a shot of it, and I'll put it out on Facebook or as a tweet for other people to see," said Joe Lopez, 44, of Rochester Hills.

"It's so easy now to connect and share information with car enthusiasts all over the globe."

In the years before social media caught on, Lopez would cobble together information from television commercials, radio talk and word of mouth.

The official Facebook page of the Woodward Dream Cruise has more than 8,000 fans, with as many as 100 posts per day, according to organizers.

The posts range from questions about event locations to pictures of people's cars.

"The day after the Cruise, people are already looking forward to the next year, and Facebook and Twitter allow the continuing conversation 365 days a year," said Tony Michaels, executive director of the Cruise. "It allows those that attend to feel a greater sense of involvement and share their passion for classic cars."

People on Twitter, which allows users to categorize their posts using hashtags (#), have been adding phrases such as #woodward and #dreamcruise to their tweets, allowing others to search for their posts based on topic.

In the early years of the Cruise, attendees from far off would get information on hotels, events and other cars through word of mouth and suggestions from friends.

Now they can check chat forums and online pages to see which friend is going to the event, said Jim Willis, an administrator for the online forum, corvetteforum.com.

"It picks up about this time of year because people who are trying to make a last-minute decision about whether they plan to go are going to be more active."

Users who want to participate in the discussion can go to facebook.com/woodwarddreamcruise, http://twitter.com/OfficialWDC, or http://twitter.com/detnewscruise to find the latest updates and topics.