Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Is this creepy social stalking or a good customer experience?


I have in my Twitter profile that I am a Red Sox fan.  Imagine that one day I go to McDonalds and get an unsatisfying burger.  I tweet over a complaint @McDonalds.  The next day, I get a tweet from Burger King with a response suggesting I try the Whopper instead and “by the way did you catch the Red Sox game last night?”.  They butted in on my conversation AND they read my profile.  Is this invasive?  Is it great personalized customer service?

Something similar happened to a blogger I follow.  You can read her real life example here.  I am curious about your thoughts.  This is becoming more and more common practice, especially with startups.