Route 2.0 Meets Web 2.0

There is a lot of talk the days about the newest revolution on the Internet: Social Networking. It started with this blog which I use to write not just about the roads across the Commonwealth, but musings about Pennsylvania. However, other means of social networking have come along since blogs were all the rage. I began to think how these new tools could benefit Pennsylvania Highways. So today, the ninth anniversary of when I purchased the pahighways.com domain, I created a couple new avenues of communication.

Twitter
The new cultural buzz-word. Everyone seems to be Twittering, from Oprah to Senator John McCain. I've seen other Twitter pages such as CNN's and the Washington State Department of Transportation's and thought how it could work for my site. PennDOT and the PTC do have a system where people can receive text messages; however, it doesn't have the immediacy of a Twitter post. So using the WSDOT "template" I created an account that will be used for news items pertaining to the highway system from the respective agencies that oversee them.

http://twitter.com/pahighways

Facebook
Another phenomenon that seems to have come out of nowhere and taken the Internet by storm is Facebook. It seems that everyone from 9 to 90 has a Facebook page, even people's pets! So I figured why not create a Pennsylvania Highways presence on this platform as well. The page will be used to share news articles as well announcements of upcoming road enthusiast meets and other events.

http://www.facebook.com/pahighways

YouTube
No doubt you have spent time on this site, probably at work trying not to get caught by the boss while watching a clip of a skateboarding bulldog. YouTube is nothing new to the road enthusiast community as others have been taping their journeys and uploading them to this popular website. So now Pennsylvania Highways has entered the fray, but trying to find its niche will take a little longer than it took to get the page set up. One issue is that PennDOT has saved me the work by going ahead and videotaping all state routes. Another issue is that I need a newer videocamera than my family's circa 1991 Panasonic camcorder that is as big as a half loaf of bread, or just buy the A/V dongle from Hauppauge so I can record the video from it onto my computer's hard drive. Basically this idea is still on the burner.

http://www.youtube.com/pahighways