Do you want to know who you're about to sit next to on the airplane? Would you go so far as to sign up for a "Seat and Meet" social networking site in order to pick who you'll be sitting next to? Business contacts? Potential dates?
That is what two airlines are proposing. KLM Royal Dutch Airlines and Malaysia Airlines are allowing passengers to share their social profiles and photos prior to boarding, in order to have a greater probability of sitting next to someone that they share interests with/are attracted to. At this point it is definitely an opt-in program and your profile gets deleted at the end of the flight. Still....
What are your thoughts on this?
I think this is a pretty ingenious idea. On the one hand, privacy would definitely be a big concern. We already have so much private information made public or more easily accessible through social media and the internet that I think people would be hesitant to expand the potential risk of private information being leaked for a one time flight with (probably) complete strangers. The sensitivity around airplanes and security from the terrorist attacks of 9/11 could also be prohibitive to their efforts to get consumers to contribute private information.
ReplyDeleteHowever, even with all the awareness of the threats to privacy that come with social media use, we (especially the younger generations) are still incredibly involved and invested in social media use. Because of this, if the airlines marketed this right, for instance, to a younger generation participating in mostly pleasure trips (vacations, school breaks etc) I think it's plausible this could be the next new thing in the social media universe.
To be completely honest, I think it is a waste of time. I plan to do a lot of traveling in my new job it is definitely something that I look for in a company. I know a lot of my friends and coworkers travel a lot for business and I don't think this would be an efficient use of my time depending on the amount of travel. When I get my reservation I usually log in so that I can try to get an exit row or an extra leg room row and then I move on. It might be useful for business contacts but would they be willing to share all of that information on the profile? On the other hand I don't think I would be completely comfortable with thinking that I choose to sit next to someone as a date for my flight.
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