Excellent article Michael! First I’ve heard of the concept and you have done a good job of outlining some of the major challenges but I fear you have left out the bull in the china shop. I observe that the ability of the average person to communicate adequately is actually reducing over time. One could argue that the more data one has about the customer with whom one engages, the more likely one is to interact appropriately. If so, why is the divorce rate rising? Surely one knows most about the person with whom one spends the most time? If so, why the disconnect?

My take is that the whole social CRM concept is more applicable to interactions between senior management than it is between call centre staff and end users. Senior management are senior management in part because they are more intelligent and better communicators.

Another factor is the anonymity of many people’s actions on the internet. The anti-social persons are the most dangerous. One could argue that the most important indicators of an anti-social person’s lack of social responsibility are hidden behind their anonymity – you cannot identify them as the cause of their destructive posts.

Anyway, thanks for the post. Food for thought.