Good piece. I remember when I was CEO of WorldwideAngler.com back in the 90′s and we went from a flat file site to a database driven site and then months later we created this amazing code that let you put in your zip and get all your local fishing information. Yea, I know real cutting age stuff, but it really was for the time (shows my age…lol). Back then we dreamed of the personalization that we could do and now it’s coming to fruition.

I agree with you that things will become more personal as technology continues to evolve to make it possible. I do however think it’s a double edge sword; in your example with the hotel I think personalization is a positive thing and saves time, now you just show up check in and do not have to brief the clerk on what you want.

At the same time personalization could lead us to live more inside a box. Sometimes consumers do know what they want until they are shown. If all we see is our current tastes through algorithms that take what we like now and show us more of it, then it’s possible, in theory, that we do not get exposed to new things which we may like, but did not know we would like. It’s almost a self-fulfilling prophecy that could lead to us living more in a box.

It’s just something to think about and probably good conversation to have over a beer sometime. Thanks for putting together the post.
Brandon