I like the idea of profiles for a personalized taxi service, but not because of the possibilities for social connections.
You're right though. It's a small group. These features are for a very small percent of the total user base. Neat though.
My grandfather hitchhiked to school when he was young. He lived in rural Minnesota and that was the only way to get around, he didn't do it to be social.
Now that most people have other options, the only people still doing it are the people who want the social experience, and it's not many.
I'm not saying there is no potential social appeal to rideshare whatsoever, but like parent, I'm guessing it's slim.
Based on the people I see hitchhiking and the people I know who have, I have to believe that it's often (maybe usually) still motivated by means rather than a desire for a social experience.
It already features profiles and when you select a ride, you can chose whether you don't really want to talk (bla), don't mind talking (bla bla) or really want to talk (bla bla bla) during the ride.
In my anecdotal experience using the service for 1h-2h30 rides, people mostly chat all ride long. I've met really interesting people, although I've yet to keep a lasting connection with anyone.
Of course the first motivation to use the service is financial, but a lot of people like the social aspect of it too, as opposed to a train where you're just not supposed to talk to people. Anyway, they have been quite successful until now in Europe at least.
I wish airlines would develop that feature when selecting seats. Just simply allowing people to choose one of those options and have it show up in the seat map when subsequent passengers are selecting their seats would be quite interesting.
I can't remember the exact quote, but it's something like the longer your site is live, the likelier it is to have turned into a dating site.
Once you're chatting, dating is not that far anyway :)
Or is there a special relationship exemption for Lyft? Or maybe I misunderstand the FB changes.
I see so many possibilities around adding a social dimension to ride-sharing services. What if the app would in fact try to preferably connect you with a rider who has mutual Facebook friends with you? What if the drivers and passengers could check a box indicating they were single and would like to use rides as a way to have an informal, inexpensive, casual date? What about matching people based on common business interests (looking for an employee or employer)? People-to-people contact during a ride finally makes social "real", unlike Facebooking while sitting in front of your laptop alone in your apartment.
The potential is really immense. One day, Uber and other ride-sharing companies being valued so high won't look so ridiculous.