Choosing Your Plane Seat Through A Social Network?

Something at work is wrong and I can't log on to Facebook and Twitter therefore rendering me useless for the time being. 

But, I could still log on to TechCrunch and found this AWESOME little article called "Choosing Your Airline Seat Based On Your Social Network." (http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/15/choosing-your-airline-seat-based-on-your-social-network/) 

Intrigued I clicked on the story. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines will be launching a service next year where customers can select their seatmates based on their friends or common interests. HOW COOL. Well at least for during the day flights. I think it doesn't really matter for red-eye's or early morning flights since every passes out anyway. I guess it also depends on the person - not everyone wants to necessarily converse with the people they're sitting next to but from my experience people are pretty friendly and intrigued in getting to know someone if they want to be. Doing this might be a positive - you might either not hate the person you're sitting next to or have an awful experience haha. (Odds being 50/50? wait, aren't the odds that already?!)

So apparently this "Meet & Seat" service will only be available through Facebook and LinkedIn but not Twitter.  Seeing as I'm HUGE on Twitter, it took a lot for me not to get upset at first. But I guess it makes sense. Facebook because of the brand/company/interest pages that you can like can match up. For LinkedIn, well - making connections, networking and making getting an interview just because you sit next to someone would be sweet. Though conversely, if you're the CEO of a company and someone sits down next to you who wants a job and keeps badgering you to talk to them could be really bad for this service. 

The article poses a question at the end that says if there is any part of human existence that won't have a social media component. Though at first thought, the only thing I could think of was going to brick and mortar stores and meeting people there - I can't say that social media hasn't taken over everything. It kind of has. People complain and vow to resist it, but social media and its pervasiveness in society has happened and will continue to happen in the future. But it's a stretch to ask that question sarcastically or make it seem like this fact is a bad thing. 

Yes, it might be a little depressing to think about, but honestly social media can only help if you want it to. As for this 'Meet & Seat,' I'm interested in what innovators think about the program and if it does actually work or not. Til then, cheers!

 

 

 

Social Media and Its Effect On Me

First of all, hello out there! I'm going to try to make a conscious effort to keep up with blogging and revamping this blog. They have me doing blog posts at work so I figured it would be helpful if I kept up with my own blogging as well...you know, besides managing my Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Instagram, Tumblr, Google+, and LinkedIn accounts (did I get them all? lol). 


So the infographic to my left (to take a bigger look at it click here: Infographic link). There are definitely some surprising statistics. I try not to take infographics too seriously but this one definitely spooked me a little considering my job title includes the words, SOCIAL MEDIA. I can believe when it says that attention spans are now 5 seconds. Even for me, I need to have my TweetDeck set to the right hand side of my screen, updating me on all news pertinent to advertising, digital, media, etc. I've often told people that I now live my life in real-time, which truth be told is actually kind of scary and robotic of me. I love knowing things as soon as they break and being one of the first to retweet about it. Come to think of it, social media has made me more competitive than ever.


A lot of people have told me that they use Facebook to reconnect with old friends and catch up, and though part of what I do on the site pertains to that, my function on Facebook is that of an information gateway. I try to find interesting articles that friends of mine will be interested in and will receive likes and comments. Very rarely do I actually update about myself on Facebook anymore unless the news is epic. Probably because the saying of 'No one actually cares how you're doing' thing got to me. 


One thing I have noticed though is that as much as social media is connecting us to the people we care about and want to get to know, it is also making us isolated islands of information. Another side effect of this might make us more introverted than extroverted. Your online life can be a whole other life if you want it to be. I even feel like that's had an effect on me. I'm very naturally outgoing etc. But sometimes I get more satisfaction in getting replied to, retweeted, and having my Twitter count go up. It almost feels like a contest for attention via social media. Which is insane. Every so often I have to remind myself that although I want to continue raising my Klout score, there are other more important aspects in my life as well...you know, like me, the actual human being behind the body typing away at my computer. It's a hard thing to come to terms with and recognize but I think as long as I keep that mindset of knowing limits with social media and its usage that I can continue to grow as an online presence while also working on myself as a person.


This might have been the only thing in the infographic that gave me some kind of solace:

So maybe it is doing some good besides giving me a crash course in interacting with consumers and marketing myself better to employers.


Here's to more innovations within social media and getting my attention span to 2 seconds!


Cheers!