Social Media Moving Today's Trucking Industry
by Jana Ritter - Published: 2/22/2013The Trucking Planet network announced the latest addition to its family of brands, TruckingPlanet.co. The new site is a socially structured networking site for trucking and freight professionals, specifically designed to help individuals and companies expand their professional network. Just as many trucking companies are revamping their business to reap the benefits of on-line capabilities and on-line job boards such as TruckingUnlimited.com have become a must have tool for today's truck driver shortage, TruckingPlanter.co was developed to provide the industry with technological advantages as well. The concept is taking traditional load boards but with expanded features and functionality to help users build long-term business contacts.
Designed to be as simple to use as popular social networks such as Facebook, TruckingPlanet.co allows users to ‘friend' other users, send immediate notice of empty trucks or freight available and connect with group contacts easily. TruckingPlanet.co's feature set includes the FreightBlaster email system, a traditional load board, group connections, user walls, private messaging, forums and instant topic notifications via email or SMS.
“The idea behind TruckingPlanet.co is to give the professionals in this industry more tools to build their businesses,” said Ron Hummel, president and CEO of Trucking Planet. “We recognize that working independently can be a challenge and that the ability to create a network of business contacts is crucial to growing a successful trucking company and freight brokerage. “Our goal is to make it as easy as possible for people to build long-term, meaningful business relationships,” Hummel said. “Their success is what will drive our success.”
Truck drivers are benefiting from social media as well. While popular job sites such as TruckingUnlimited.com certainly offer the convenience of immediate access to the best trucking opportunities in every state, right from home, there are already many facebook pages and forums for truck drivers to get immediate info and keep up with their fellow drivers and trends in the trucking industry. When you're on the road a lot, it also makes a huge difference for truck drivers having a reliable, inexpensive way to communicate with friends and family as well. Its estimated that about 95% of today's OTR truck drivers travel with a laptop and social media sites are a major part of their usage.
The missing truck driver alert network is another major example of how social networking has become an essential tool for the trucking industry. Unfortunately, due to the transient nature of the long-haul trucking profession, truck drivers who may fall ill or are otherwise in distress can be difficult to locate. The case of one such missing driver, Mark Williams, spurred the launch of the alert network, providing help to law enforcement and family members attempting to locate truck drivers who have gone missing. To be alerted of a missing truck driver, to provide an alert for a driver who is missing or to receive or give alerts for anyone who may be missing, simply sign-up at the website and help law enforcement and the families locate their missing loved ones. To sign up to be a part of the network go to: MissingTruckDriver.com