What’s the best method to seek revenge on a cheating boyfriend or girlfriend?  If you Google it, you will find anything from “ignore him” to “sleep with his brother.”  If that’s not quite what you’re looking for, you can take note from this guy who sought revenge on his ex by sabotaging her Netflix cue to recommend only movies about adultery, cheating, and immoral behavior.  A little passive aggressive, but still pretty creative.

Although this use of “product suggestions” was influenced and not totally organic, it brings up the topic of technology, and how, as it becomes more and more advanced, it finds more and more ways to “know us.”

You’ve been on sites like Amazon.com or Express.com when a side panel pops up and tells you about other products that “users who bought this also bought” or about “some other items we thought you might like.” Sound convenient? Sure. I don’t have to sort through hundreds of dresses, or shoes, or books, because the website can suggest the ones I am more likely to prefer.  And although we love having options, it’s much easier to choose between 3 things than 30.  By having things narrowed down for us, it can save us time and stress.

However, we also know that the opinions and suggestions of our friends are valued more highly over the opinions of marketers.  After all, our friends know us- they know our style, our needs, our budget, and they make recommendations accordingly.  But what happens when a marketer or brand tries to be your ‘friend’?  To get in there and make suggestions for you?

Who should decide what you need?

There is the side that says we don’t know what we need until we see it.  (This is part of the premise that Google’s Intuitive search will be operating on.  The feature will ‘push’ information to users based on things like their location and browsing history).  But will the suggestion of information (or products in the other cases) lead me to find what I actually want (if I even know what that is), or will it lead me to what someone tells me I’m supposed to want?  Will I still be in control?

Suggestions can work, and they can work great.  They can show us things we will love that we never may have found.  The more that the suggestions are accurate to that person’s taste and style, the more that brand can appear as trustworthy. Trust that they want to show you something you will actually enjoy and that will be worth your money.  Whether it’s a purse or a paperback.

This trust can feel like friendship and give the perception that the brand is really looking out for your best interests if it’s done right…even if it’s all just based on a computer program.

One brand that has found a creative way to blur the line between brand and friend is Ann Taylor LOFT.   On their site, they suggest items that “their stylist also likes” (not what YOU will like), and give you the option to offer it up to the ultimate judges: your friends.  You can ‘share’ the dress or shoes or jeans on Facebook or any other social network and ask your friends what they think.  Will this make me look fat?  Will it go with that skirt I have?  This extra step gives more control to the consumer, and if enough of their friends ‘like’ it, that much more motivation to buy.

So what do you think the future will be?  Will sites start showing us what our friends have bought?  (Maybe some are already doing this).  You may have even noticed Google ad retargeting where an ad can ‘follow’ you across different sites until you eventually click on it, allowing further targeting of specific products/services to specific people.

Do you think that the web and brands are “stalking” us and getting closer to the Minority Report Dwight talked about in his blog last month?  Or is it making our lives easier and more efficient?

I’d love to hear what you think.

photo credit: TECHNOLOG on msnbc.com