Today's my birthday – I share it with Lincoln and Darwin. But I'm not writing for greetings (though they're always welcome :)). I'm posting because of the surprise good wishes I received from someone I don't know, but do see all the time.
I'm a big fan of the company, though not thrilled with the recent privacy changes. However, I was taken aback this morning when I noticed a special Google Doodle prepared just for me that said, 'Happy Birthday, Martin'.
My first reaction was, wow! I like this. Then, I started getting a touch uncomfortable, similar to the feeling you experience at a hotel when the staff starts referring to you by name. Certainly you told them who you were when you registered, but the sudden familiarity is disconcerting.
And I think that's the same here.
I willingly shared personal information when I entered my birthday into my profile so Google has the data. It just wasn't something I expected to encounter when I went to perform a search. This differs from Facebook because you don't get wishes from the platform itself.
Customization is a wonderful thing. But with all the data I'm sharing, I'm not ready for companies to cross the line and get too up close and personal – at least not yet.
This isn't a big thing, really and maybe I'm overreacting. I'm interested to hear your take.
Hi Martin,
It would make me feel uncomfortable, like I’m being stalked. Some people really love customization and it makes them feel special but when it happens to me I always want to fire back, “just because I do business with you doesn’t mean we’re friends”. If possible when filling out online forms, I exclude my birthday or make one up but sometimes, especially when payment is required, they cross-reference the details. I guess this is good but there should be a check box that says: Even though I’ve provided the date of my birthday, you are not allowed to send me creepy birthday greetings.