A Customer Aware World

In an article about Google’s Approach to Social, Liz Gannes at GigaOm quoted David Glazer, director of engineering, as saying: “Everything is better when it knows who I am,” said Glazer, who is responsible for working on developer platforms that include social aspects[.]
Google’s new approach to social media:
“Who I am, who do I know, what do I do,” said Glazer.
You can read the article for more context, but I want to take it somewhere different.
Does your company know who you are? Do they know who you know? Do they know what you do? Maybe. Probably. Somewhat.
Does your company know who your customers are? (yes) Do they know who your customers know? (sometimes) Do they know what your customers do? (not as sure)
People expect a certain level of customer service as table stakes to the game. In the new, much more wired world, I believe we’re asking for more. I want my airlines to know just how often I fly, which seat I tend to choose, how often I upgrade, and whether I normally check my bag. Think about how helpful they could be if they did something with that information.
As we move into another year of social, where location and mobile is playing much more a role, I think people will want the companies who serve them to know we’re there (checking in with Foursquare would tell them this), who in the company interacts with them and in what ways. Imagine Best Buy knowing that Corvida is roaming the floor, seeing her most recent tweets that she’s looking for accessories for her Motorola Droid, and knowing that she’s blogged seven times (5 favorably, 2 neutral) about the company.
Remember, I’m talking about this being opt in. Privacy freak-outs, save your juice for Mark Zuckerberg’s crazy privacy situation.
What more could we all do with a socially integrated customer experience?
I’m working on this right now for a potential new client partner (remember, at New Marketing Labs, we prefer to turn our clients into partners). As we explore how much more value can be derived from the blend of customer-centric business communication and social software, I think we’ll find that better understanding the traits David Glazer mentioned above (who are you, who do you know, what do you do), as well as a few more (where have you checked in, what have you said before, what do we think of you), and we’ll possibly see some better customer experiences.
What do you think?