Comments on: Recommending the tail http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/10/09/recommending-the-tail/ by Jeff Jarvis Fri, 10 Feb 2012 09:43:34 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.1 hourly 1 By: Kyle Austin http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/10/09/recommending-the-tail/#comment-362044 Kyle Austin Mon, 22 Oct 2007 21:21:28 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/10/09/recommending-the-tail/#comment-362044 Hey Jeff, Glad you took a look at recommendation engines. However, it's unfortunate that the authors of the Wharton report don't look at next generation recommendation engines that actually assist in helping people dive into the long tail. I work with the Racepoint Group and represent a company called ChoiceStream in Cambridge, MA that is working on some of this new recommendation technology. ChoiceStream’s scientists, statisticians and personalization experts created a new, patent-pending approach to personalization called Attributized Bayesian Choice Modeling (ABCM). ChoiceStream’s ABCM is based on the principle that in order to provide truly accurate, useful recommendations, a personalization system must understand not just what users like, but why they like it. By using techniques to classify content and products in terms of attributes people care about—attempting to represent content using the same characteristics that consumers consider when evaluating it—ChoiceStream’s ABCM-based solution matches each individual’s needs and interests with the content they are most likely to enjoy. ChoiceStream currently powers recommendations for Blockbuster, Overstock, DirecTV, Comcast and Yahoo! - among others. Blockbuster customer Robb Hecht’s experience with being recommended and enjoying a movie on the long tail was documented in this piece (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118584111148282848.html) in the Wall Street Journal in July. I’d love to connect you with the folks from ChoiceStream to discuss the idea of intelligently recommending relevant content from the long tail as well as how they are eyeing making recommendations a social experience online and on future set-top boxes. Best, Kyle Hey Jeff,

Glad you took a look at recommendation engines. However, it’s unfortunate that the authors of the Wharton report don’t look at next generation recommendation engines that actually assist in helping people dive into the long tail.

I work with the Racepoint Group and represent a company called ChoiceStream in Cambridge, MA that is working on some of this new recommendation technology.

ChoiceStream’s scientists, statisticians and personalization experts created a new, patent-pending approach to personalization called Attributized Bayesian Choice Modeling (ABCM).

ChoiceStream’s ABCM is based on the principle that in order to provide truly accurate, useful recommendations, a personalization system must understand not just what users like, but why they like it. By using techniques to classify content and products in terms of attributes people care about—attempting to represent content using the same characteristics that consumers consider when evaluating it—ChoiceStream’s ABCM-based solution matches each individual’s needs and interests with the content they are most likely to enjoy.

ChoiceStream currently powers recommendations for Blockbuster, Overstock, DirecTV, Comcast and Yahoo! – among others.

Blockbuster customer Robb Hecht’s experience with being recommended and enjoying a movie on the long tail was documented in this piece (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118584111148282848.html) in the Wall Street Journal in July.

I’d love to connect you with the folks from ChoiceStream to discuss the idea of intelligently recommending relevant content from the long tail as well as how they are eyeing making recommendations a social experience online and on future set-top boxes.

Best,
Kyle

]]> By: Adam Metz http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/10/09/recommending-the-tail/#comment-361864 Adam Metz Wed, 17 Oct 2007 20:43:34 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/10/09/recommending-the-tail/#comment-361864 Jeff, you've got a great point about wanting to socialize the reccomendation data, but there's one critical flaw. Unless Amazon, or other web retail sites that have a high "reccomender index," aligns with OpenID or the social network that leverages individuals against the social graph (in my case, Facebook), then they're stuck in the crummy "rich get richer" model that you desribe. The reccomendation data is only as good as the social graph it's leveraged against. So, will FB become the new Amazon? Jeff, you’ve got a great point about wanting to socialize the reccomendation data, but there’s one critical flaw. Unless Amazon, or other web retail sites that have a high “reccomender index,” aligns with OpenID or the social network that leverages individuals against the social graph (in my case, Facebook), then they’re stuck in the crummy “rich get richer” model that you desribe.

The reccomendation data is only as good as the social graph it’s leveraged against. So, will FB become the new Amazon?

]]> By: bg http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/10/09/recommending-the-tail/#comment-361790 bg Tue, 16 Oct 2007 03:30:05 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/10/09/recommending-the-tail/#comment-361790 (How's my spelling? Yikes. Call 1-800-TYPO.) ;-p (How’s my spelling? Yikes. Call 1-800-TYPO.)

;-p

]]> By: bg http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/10/09/recommending-the-tail/#comment-361789 bg Tue, 16 Oct 2007 03:25:08 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/10/09/recommending-the-tail/#comment-361789 Interesting. I think Print/TV trying to replicate the lonelygirl15 model though is an apples and oranges comparison some ways. Her content originated online and subsequently spread there. Print/TV have their content show up subsequently online. Sure, some TV features hiughlights of other shows, but the intenet changes the equation and gives them another outlet. The interent doesn't need print and TV for all of it's content to survive. It helps, and more and more TV content has shown up there, but it’s not critical to the survivalof the net. TV even has to promote the internet to compete. In the past, would print ever have supported another media like that? TV reruns content online. Fans repurpose it for mashups on YouTube. Interesting. I think Print/TV trying to replicate the lonelygirl15 model though is an apples and oranges comparison some ways. Her content originated online and subsequently spread there. Print/TV have their content show up subsequently online. Sure, some TV features hiughlights of other shows, but the intenet changes the equation and gives them another outlet. The interent doesn’t need print and TV for all of it’s content to survive. It helps, and more and more TV content has shown up there, but it’s not critical to the survivalof the net.

TV even has to promote the internet to compete. In the past, would print ever have supported another media like that? TV reruns content online. Fans repurpose it for mashups on YouTube.

]]> By: Jeremy Penston http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/10/09/recommending-the-tail/#comment-361499 Jeremy Penston Wed, 10 Oct 2007 12:12:03 +0000 http://www.buzzmachine.com/2007/10/09/recommending-the-tail/#comment-361499 Hi, I looked at this on my blog a few months back looking specifically at <a href="http://blog.ipdev.net/2007/03/online-video-market.html" rel="nofollow">Online Video</a>. I compared YouTube with DVD rentals and could see that YouTube viewing was actually much more concentrated than was the case with DVD rentals. I only had access to the Top 20 YouTube data, but the 20th most popular YouTube video (all time, at the time of writing) had 18% of the showings of the 1st most popular. On the DVD rental side, the 20th largest grossing rental (in 2006, 1 year approximately equivalent to YouTube's all time at the time of writing) generated 79% of the amount paid for the 1st most popular. I know comparing viewing and gross revenue is inexact, but will do for this purpose. The conclusion was that recommendations make the hot hotter and do nothing for the long tail. Think of it as a long tail on an elephant... Long tail, but massive body :-) Jeremy Hi,

I looked at this on my blog a few months back looking specifically at Online Video. I compared YouTube with DVD rentals and could see that YouTube viewing was actually much more concentrated than was the case with DVD rentals.

I only had access to the Top 20 YouTube data, but the 20th most popular YouTube video (all time, at the time of writing) had 18% of the showings of the 1st most popular.

On the DVD rental side, the 20th largest grossing rental (in 2006, 1 year approximately equivalent to YouTube’s all time at the time of writing) generated 79% of the amount paid for the 1st most popular.

I know comparing viewing and gross revenue is inexact, but will do for this purpose. The conclusion was that recommendations make the hot hotter and do nothing for the long tail.

Think of it as a long tail on an elephant… Long tail, but massive body :-)

Jeremy

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