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Do you have sway over your friends’ decisions? Do you have “followers?” A “strong presence on the web,” perhaps? If you have the ability to influence decisions, Ford would like to co-opt your influence for marketing purposes…er, we mean…give you a free car.

Well, loan you one, anyway.

The automaker’s new “Fiesta Movement” program takes an old auto industry idea - select a group of drivers to test drive a new car for a while before it hits showrooms - and turns it into a viral marketing campaign. Ford is looking for 100 people, selected for their influence, to drive the 2010 Ford Fiesta for six months before the car goes on sale in the U.S. According to the program’s web site, these drivers will then be required to accept “monthly secret assignments from Ford Mission Control,” but in exchange, will drive a Fiesta free. “Each car comes with free gas, free insurance, and full concierge service for the duration of the vehicle’s six month stay.”

Interested? All you have to do is film a “2-5 minute video explaining why you deserve the opportunity to become a driver and participate in the Fiesta Movement,’ upload it to YouTube and use the Fiesta Movement tag.

What will you be getting in the bargain? The Fiesta is a new subcompact that Ford says will compete with the Honda Fit and Toyota Yaris. The car is already on sale in Europe, where it has won praise from the automotive press, narrowly missed being named European Car of the Year, outran a Corvette inside a shopping mall, and has been used as a landing craft by the Royal Marines.

Alright, those last two are only true on Top Gear, but they were fun to watch.

The Fiesta is expected to manage nearly 40 mpg, and it’s apparently fun to drive, at least by European standards.

When Ford announced plans to bring the little car to the States over the summer, gas prices were climbing toward $4 per gallon and Americans were increasingly buying small cars. Now, in the midst of a recession and with the auto industry on taxpayer-funded life support, the only Ford models showing tremendous sales success are…well…full-size pickups. Automobile Magazine points out, “By November, Ford was adding an extra shift to accommodate demand for its all-new 2009 Ford F-150 as gas prices tumbled to their lowest levels in years.” Ford doesn’t know what kind of sales figures to expect for what will be its smallest U.S. offering, so the automaker is “is trying to generate demand for the vehicle” by trading on the credibility of bloggers and influence-peddlers willing to accept their secret missions.

Let us know if you decide to apply, and good luck to you. It looks like a fun little car.

And if you fail to win a free car, keep in mind that there are inexpensive cars available now. With the auto industry rocked by slow sales in 2008, automakers are heavily discounting many cars. Research the best car deals with U.S. News’ car rankings and reviews.