Not Likely
I was editing my "likes" on Facebook today, and I noticed that Facebook was offering me suggestions. I find this to be an extremely odd concept. They know better than I what I like?
Please don't tell me the answer to this question is yes.
AMDG
Like Amazon, they know what other people who like what you like also like. So working on the assumption that people with a common preference will have other common preferences, they have a statistical stab at what else you might like. The guesses can be hilariously wrong, as well as eerily right. Or am I just belabouring the obvious?
ReplyDeleteIf you want to be scared, talk to someone with first-hand knowledge about what grocery stores know about us thanks to our super-saver cards we scan every time we buy something. Grocery store history is the gold standard of predictive marketing data sets.
ReplyDeleteIf nothing else, this prowess of the grocers should insure that nobody ever offers me a lite beer.
ReplyDeleteJosh, did you see the cantaloupe story last week. I guess there can be good uses of of those store records, but it's just another creepy thing you don't think about. I knew on some level that they must do that because I get coupons for the things I buy a lot.
ReplyDeleteI almost signed up for a Walgreen's card yesterday. Maybe I won't.
I'm glad, Maclin, that you have been spared that indignity.