A new article in AdAge today talks about how OnStar is branching out beyond emergency services to social networking. Immediately intrigued by the headline, I continued to read so I could understand exactly what they would be offering. Voice texting features and audio Facebook updates? I have to say I was surprised. As someone with a very long commute, I would love to nothing more than to be able to text or even email via voice while I am driving. But I also recognize that this will be deemed a safety hazard and therefore something OnStar will have to respond to. Sam Mancuso, general director of OnStar messaging, said this would be tested and if it does prove to be distracting OnStar will not move forward with the feature. I can’t imagine how it will not be. One can argue that the radio is distracting, but it’s not something the listener feels the need to respond to the way they do of a text, phone call or Facebook. The minute that a driver takes their focus off the road and on to texting/phone/Facebook, they put their lives in danger and those of other drives on the road. I know all that logically, but as someone that spends a lot of time in the car trying to do business…it would be great!

But this does go to show the level of infiltration of social media into our everyday lives. Consciously or unconsciously, we want it everywhere and available any time. Is this the place to draw the line?