Tuesday, September 25, 2012

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

4 comments:

  1. 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?

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  2. If 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.

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  3. If nothing else, this prowess of the grocers should insure that nobody ever offers me a lite beer.

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  4. Josh, 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.

    I almost signed up for a Walgreen's card yesterday. Maybe I won't.

    I'm glad, Maclin, that you have been spared that indignity.

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