September 5th, 2016
In Technology
No Comments
If you enjoy this article, see the other most popular articles
If you enjoy this article, see the other most popular articles
If you enjoy this article, see the other most popular articles
Finding novelty via friends is a metric not yet captured by recommendation engines
(written by lawrence krubner, however indented passages are often quotes). You can contact lawrence at: lawrence@krubner.com, or follow me on Twitter.
The traditional regime of recommendation systems has been obsessed with (1). What’s the uplift of recommendation algorithm A vs recommendation algorithm B? Which is driving more click-thrus and conversions?
There’s something fundamentally broken in the this way of thinking though. I don’t care what the computer says. I care about what my friends say. The meaningful music I’ve discovered over the last 10 years has been music liked by someone I respect. Friends. Other musicians I like. Music critics. Online celebrities.
Because how do I decide when to really give music a chance? What music should I really listen deeply to? And which music do I listen to passively without much thought and consideration?
When a friend tells me I really should try out an album, my first interaction with the album might be clumsy and painful. I might not like it. But I tell myself “my friend Sean really knows music.” He’s a thoughtful guy, and I want to understand what interests him. So I keep listening. I give the album a second chance, and a third. I really want to like it. I put work into it. And eventually I do enjoy it.
When a computer recommends music (or movies, art…) I give it one fleeting chance. If I don’t like it I don’t put additional work into it. It’s either a catchy tune that I like on first listen, or I ignore the music. The music feels cheaper. Like top 50 radio. Despite the actual “accuracy” of the recommendation, I have a hard time disentangling my enjoyment of the music from my relationship with the thing doing the recommendation. Stupid computer, what does it know?
Post external references
- 1
http://opensourceconnections.com/blog/2016/08/21/recommendations-systems-not-as-cool-as-friends/
February 8, 2022 9:33 am
From Michael S on How I recovered from Lyme Disease: I fasted for two weeks, no food, just water
"Did you have Bartonella, too? Seems it uses autogenesis..."