I heart the way Google defines social
In an article on GigaOm, David Glazer (link to, what else, Glazer’s google profile page) says that Google defines social as, “Who I am, who do I know, what do I do.”
He also says that, “Everything is better when it knows who I am.”
As simple as these statements are, I couldn’t agree more. What I love even more is that they talk in terms of “Social”. Not “Social Marketing”, “Social Networking”, “Social Media”, etc.
Just. Plain. Social.
Social IS who I am, who I know and what I do. Now this doesn’t give marketers an open license to try to be a part of all of those areas, but it helps us understand the power of social. Defining it by marketing, media, networking or whatever else, only limits its potential by putting it into a box.
I doubt many people will argue too much about that definition of social. However, I expect there would be a decent debate on Glazer’s other statement, “Everything is better when it knows who I am.”
I couldn’t agree more with that statement (surprised, I’m sure). Let’s take your car as an example. If my car knew me it would:
* it would know when I tend to leave for work in the mornings, know the weather and be warmed up by the time I go into the garage
* it would know I have an appointment at Ra in midtown and that I just pulled into the parking lot, and it would check me in via Foursquare
* it would know how fast I drive and my driving style and recommend routes that accommodate that
* it would hear me start to swear as the 5th person on 85 cuts me off and start to play music to calm me down
* it would know that I’m a huge Apple fanboy and alert me when an interview with Jobs is on another channel on the radio (as if Jobs gave radio interviews, puh-lease)
* it would know that my schedule says I’m about to pick up my sister and maybe I shouldn’t have the ghetto-rap blasting and instead, switch to music that both of us like by checking our Pandora channels
* it would know when its my birthday and surprise me by playing my favorite quotes from Fletch (which it would know from my favorite movies list on Facebook)
I could go on but you get the point. When things know who we are, they just get better. Anyone care to take the other side?
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I think it makes sense for the most part. I think the trick is the scope of 'who' knows me to make that product better. For instance, I might be fine with my car knowing who I am and what I do to make every day easier on me as you have above, but I may not be ok with GMC or Honda knowing who I am and all of the details of my life that it would take to make the car as special as yours above. I don't know why anyone wouldn't be uncomfortable with it to some degree. Who would have access to this personal information about me? What would they do with it? Can they be trusted? Am I going to start seeing ads in my rear-view mirror?
Great point ddavis2000 (whoever you are :). Definitely don't want ads all over the place. In the car example, doubt that would happen as you're paying a lot for the car and the manufacturers probably wouldn't allow it, but in other areas where you're getting things for free, definitely a concern.
I guess for the idea of “who knows my details” part, I look at the Kroger loyalty card. It provides a benefit (a perceived discount on products) and for that, we give Kroger all of our information. What they do with that, I'm not sure anyone knows. They could be sending a list of all the people that buy bacon once a week to a cholesterol pill company that then can mail you something for their product. Or to insurance companies.
So I think you raise a great point, could be a double-edged sword. Btw, that phrase is kind of funny as a double-edged sword just make the sword better, unless you're so clumsy that you accidentally are hitting yourself with the other side of the sword. If you're doing that, you probably shouldn't be using a sword in the first place.