Will social phenomenon move beyond the living beings?
I am in no way going to contradict this statement. We are social and the same can be seen of different species in the world. But an interesting piece of news: Ford car that tweets just gave a new insight into the whole social paradigm. It took me to a whole new world of interactions and the change it can bring about in future relationships. We have seen it in films, cartoons and sometimes even we talk subconsciously to the objects!
But, with social media the man-made imagination and world of sub consciousness is actually turning into reality.
So, what can be the possible scenarios?
a. The objects directly calling the service department in case of issues - I can already sense the comfort zone!!
b. The objects alerting us for service reminders, feature failure by delivering message using e-mail, sms or twitter.
c. In case of a high-engagement object, it will also give out the best possible recommendations. We already see something similar on our laptops and cell phones. But a more personalized message - "@xyz dear owner, I found a good deal for up gradation of my tires. I promise it will only strengthen my bond with you :) " might make a good difference.
d. Real-time tips for best way to use the product feature. For instance, amateur photographers look out for information on various forums, brochure to equip themselves with the knowledge. Imagine a scenario where you take a still shot and the very instant camera can analyze a better way to click the same shot.
To elaborate further, I would like to take the Hi-Tech industry as the reference. While working on a formal viewpoint of role of social media in Hi-Tech, I realized that this space is slowly converging with different brands eating on each other's product lines. For example, earlier there were only cell phone makers like Nokia but now the likes of Dell, HP have also entered into this space. Hence, to start envisioning about social network of objects, this industry seems to be the right fit with different type of objects available for the consumer.
From technological perspective, the integration between different devices provided under one brand already has various options like Bluetooth and WLAN. So, a connection at data level is an established affair. The next level desired is where we form a social network with these connected objects.
An object's profile data will have attributes such as Product name, Product ID, Location, date of registration, current status. It will be a member of official support group and upgrade groups to name a few. A user needs to simply log in and see the status of his different objects through a portal. He need not manually register the product in separate portals for getting support and upgrades leading to increased ease of maintenance.
Similarly, I also see a better opportunity for cross-sell/up-sell since with the help of social element. An enterprise will have the aggregate usage patterns of the customer on different devices at its disposal. This will help design a more effective offer for the customer. For instance, a user having a Laptop and Smartphone provided by an enterprise mostly uses Laptop browser for news. Hence, an effective cross-sell can be to promote a Smartphone application of syndicated news feed to the user.
The scenarios mentioned above are still far from reality but do have the potential to alter the way we communicate with objects. I am definitely waiting for that day :)
