by Christina Warren ( http://mashable.com/2009/08/27/audi-facebook/ )
Audi USA has partnered with TurnHere to promote its participation in the “Youth Mobile 2030″ design challenge and to engage with its fans via the company’s Facebook page.
Right now, Audi is gearing up for the Los Angeles Design Challenge, which will take place at the L.A. Auto Show. Southern California automotive studios are competing to design a youth-oriented concept car for the year 2030.
Using Facebook (
), Audi is posting videos of their design process, information about the contest as it progresses, and soliciting questions and feedback to find out what the fans would like to see in a car of the future. It wants its 300,000 fans to know that as a company, Audi listens to its customers and wants to engage in a conversation about the future.
I’m sure that whatever Audi ends up coming up with for their concept car will be stunning — I just hope the console has built-in Twitter (
) and Facebook integration!
Mike Dickman 
This is not a new idea and expect to see more companies reach out to consumers to help develop new concepts and products.
I watched a thread of Facebook comments influence the purchase of a new Blackberry last night. It was amazing to see the importance of peer recommendations.
Erik Qualman, author of Socianomics, quotes that 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations while only 14% of consumers trust advertisements.
Companies have used social networking to influence buyers for years now. It is called Viral Marketing. It is estimated that 65% of all marketers are using social media as part of their total marketing plan. That number is expected to rise to full saturation, or 100%. I just spoke with a good friend in the Marine industry who stated, in writing, that he is moving 100% of his marketing dollars to the web in 2010.