The year is far from over and already we get an influx of social media innovations in the way business is done. Leading amongst them has to be KLM's new service, which will link up the social profiles of passengers and enable them to pick a seat based upon who they know ... or would like to know.
I know what you're thinking and already there have been headlines across the web saying, "A Blind Date on Every Flight," and there's even a video by NMA TV which parodies the romantic- interest-amongst-strangers concept.
The airline, however, has done some careful thinking here. It knows from its demographics that the core of its passengers are business people and it also knows that the majority of its complaints arise from customers whose inflight experiences have been marred by having to sit next to someone they would never have chosen to sit next to themselves.
Putting two and two together and this time coming up with the exact sum, KLM has decided to try and see if passengers who can pick a seat themselves will (A) complain less and (B) provide a point of social media advertising for the Dutch airline that will help it gain brand ambassadors.
Its intention is to create a possible networking opportunity out of the enforced incarceration that most inflight experiences are. If it succeeds its model will be rolled, I suspect, to other airlines and we will have, suddenly, the total socialisation of flying with Facebook profiles sharing flight-specific in-jokes, LinkedIn members meeting up and creating in-air business deals and Google Plus posts detailing how a radical business model was put together whilst in transit from Amsterdam to Miami.
Of course there is a flipside here too where stalking might suddenly become a lot easier (and harder to get away from) and where the number of divorces as a result of businessmen, in-transit, hooking up with social media gals goes up. Then there is the human factor. On any given flight there is only likely to be just so many business types, attractive girls or interesting social media personalities to go round, which makes us think that someone, inevitably, will be left out, stuck to sitting near the tail-end toilets, next to a person they would not want to be caught dead with. Not such a big deal if it's pot luck who you sit next to, a disaster if you find that you were not quick enough to book and you were left without choice.
Would that make complaints rise? We won't really know until KLM gets their system up and running and puts it into operation. As far as social media goes however this is both a bold move and one which is likely to change many things, not least, the way we choose to book flights.