TrendWatching: Counter-Googling

The practice of "Googling" someone or snooping into a person's background by doing a Google search has taken a twist. In what has been dubbed, "Counter-Googling," marketers are using the Internet to snoop into customers’ lives in order to provide more personalized products and services.

For example, using reservation information, the Bel Air Hotel in LA "Counter-Googles" first-time guests to gain insight that may lead to offering a more personalized stay with the hotel.

While this would be a slow and tedious process for a marketer to undertake en mass, the concept makes sense and could, perhaps, be automated at some point. Serving targeted advertising to consumers is great but serving personalized product and service is even better.