Comments on: Did the Long Tail Beget Social Design?

By: Lukasz Nowak

Lukasz Nowak — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 09:34:57 +0000

crowds? - small group of people can make change (10, 20, max 150) check the book “Tipping Point”

By: shhost

shhost — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 13:48:38 +0000

meaningless - ???

By: am Design » Baabelin kirjasto » Artikkelikatsaus: Joulukuu 2007

am Design » Baabelin kirjasto » Artikkelikatsaus: Joulukuu 2007 — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 10:11:33 +0000

[...] Pitkästä hännästä: Bokardon mukaan Häntä saattoi synnyttää sosiaalisen suunnittelun (Did the Long Tail Beget Social Design?), Copyblogger taas huomauttaa, ettei Häntä välttämättä bloggaamisen sovellu (The Myth of the [...]

By: Edd

Edd — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 17:33:28 +0000

Crowds don’t really have any wisdom - i think the guessing part is something

By: Piter

Piter — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:40:51 +0000

All content is available at all times, Guerilla marketing - i couldn’t understand some parts of this article, but it sounds interesting…

By: robojiannis

robojiannis — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 08:25:25 +0000

There’s an interesting book about the subject you’re discussing, maybe you’ve heard of it. The paradox of choice: why more is less; Barry Schwartz>/a>

By: Ben Nevile

Ben Nevile — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 06:15:39 +0000

Guerilla marketing will only go so far. Most people only trust recommendations from their friends - people they actually know. Crowds don’t really have any wisdom, because wisdom comes from CONTEXT. If my friend Sam recommends a movie, I know I’ll probably like it. If my friend Abigail recommends a movie I know I’ll probably hate it. Without context a recommendation is close to meaningless.

By: Josh

Josh — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:31:10 +0000

Thanks for all the great comments, guys. I think I miscommunicated my intention. I was saying that Netflix, Amazon, and iTunes (albeit iTunes recommendations are shaky at best) is the *only* way forward. I was trying to commend them for their efforts, while all their competitors took years to realize that this was the future.

I’ve amended the post to be more clear.

By: Britt Raybould

Britt Raybould — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 22:08:20 +0000

Ask other people. Have conversations. Give and get recommendations. Tell someone what your preferences are, and they’ll give you their best guess.

Josh, I think the guessing part is something we still skip over. Recommendations aren’t an absolute science, but that’s not always how we treat them, thus the anger at Amazon for recommending HD-DVD when you’ve only ever bought Blu-Ray. Ultimately, because reviews and recommendations are make by humans, don’t we still need to have patience for what pops up on the screen?

By: David Lifson

David Lifson — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 20:05:59 +0000

Maybe it’s because I’m an optimist, but I’m always surprised at how many people assume that Amazon recommendations are skewed or tainted by marketers. We show you the best products we can, every time.

Examples where we’ve been “accused” of bias:
1. Showing a book on Judaism to someone who bought a book on Christianity. Not surprisingly, there are many people who, after buying one book on religion, buy other books. And yet, we get accused of “religious propaganda”. Same for political books.
2. Showing a Blu-ray DVD to someone who bought an HD-DVD. Unfortunately, we do this by mistake as we’re not yet “platform” aware. That said, we most definitely are not “trying to push Blu-ray”, or vice versa.

Generally, any time we recommend a “controversial” product, some people assume that Amazon is evil or underhanded in some way. At the very least, it’s an interesting look at human nature.

By: Nicholas Frota

Nicholas Frota — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 17:15:30 +0000

Hey, I totally agree on that… Social design brings back the small world and limit our choices by the group we belongs.

I discuss something related when proposing a redesign for the freshdirect.com website and its awful interface: http://blog.nonlinear.cc/old/freshdirect-lack-shelves/

take care, and keep up the good work!

By: Richard Morton

Richard Morton — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 14:55:22 +0000

“Once Google digitizes all the books in the world they won’t ever have to again.” - Hmmm, are you sure about that. Remember the digitisation of the Domesday Book in the 1970’s onto laser disc and the problems that caused later. No doubt a goverment review will have identified all the problems to “ensure that they never happen again” - that phrase sounds familiar too.

http://www.qm-consulting.co.uk/

By: Humbleweaver

Humbleweaver — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 02:51:50 +0000

This is a great read. I agree with Scott. Marketers flood communities and in a subtle way (or not) stir the pot to the benefit of their cause(service, product, group, whatever).

But then, looking forward, how is this going to change? Better yet, how can a user be guarded from biased influence in the future? Is there a workaround?

By: Udi

Udi — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 02:02:35 +0000

exactly I’ve been trying to explain this to others for quite some time now. You’ve described this natural progression very well.

Friends helping friends find good things in a sea of choices is exactly why I built Feed Each Other.

By: Scott

Scott — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 01:24:43 +0000

Unfortunately, shrewd companies are already skewing “social” direction by inserting guerilla marketers within the supposedly unbiased community: shill marketing.

This is a disturbing trend that is gaining popularity. How does one trust their peers when their peers may be leading them down a virtual primrose path?