Whenever I go to amazon.com I get presented with recommendations based on my purchase and browsing history. It’s boring. I know all about the books that are similar to what I already have. I want to see books I don’t know about. I want to see other people’s recommendations.
When I enter a physical bookstore I’m often presented with a curated display of books on a theme I hadn’t really thought about, or sometimes employee recommendations. It’s so much more interesting than a list generated by me sampling a list that was itself generated by me sampling a list that was ultimately based on stuff that I already have.
I know all about the books that are similar to what I already have.
This could be fixed in user interface by a button that means “I already know about this book, and I will not buy it from you, so don’t show me this book again”. And the system would instead display another similar book… until you find something interesting you don’t know.
sigfpe on recommendation systems:
This could be fixed in user interface by a button that means “I already know about this book, and I will not buy it from you, so don’t show me this book again”. And the system would instead display another similar book… until you find something interesting you don’t know.
Amazon.com does have a “not interested” button.