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Preference Engines Side-Effects in Online Retail

Posted by samzenpus on from the if-you-like-a-you'll-love-a+ dept.

jasonla writes "The Los Angeles Times ran a Column One article about the impact preference engines have on consumer buying habits. From the article: 'In the physical world, I bump into all kinds of people by chance. But online, if recommenders were perfect, I can have the option of talking to only people who are just like me. There's a danger that if we don't have some level of shared interaction, it can be destructive to our social cohesion.'"

2 of 177 comments (clear)

  1. No Always the Case by No+Salvation · · Score: 1, Informative

    I use AmaroK with the Last.fm Audioscrobbler plugin turned on, when I listen to a track it submits it to a database and compares that database to other user's database. It suggests a pretty diverse selection of music, everything from Iron Maiden to :Wumpscut:. So I would hardly say that ALL preference engines create a homogeneous selection, just the bad ones.

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    I'm agneglectic, too lazy to care if there is a God.
  2. And Geffen Looks to Buy the LA Times... by Baldrson · · Score: 3, Informative
    Geffen is looking to buy the LA Times which would explain why it is that the LA Times is running a story that totally ignores the degree to which mass media companies already "tell you what you like" and furthermore, tell you that you like what they like.

    Talk about narrow tastes!

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    Seastead this.