Thoughts on the Digg Recommendation Engine
17/07/08 20:22 Filed in: Random
So, I always try to get on Digg (a social content system) -
specifically to promote my stuff. Anyway, Digg
introduced a new recommendation engine. The
basic idea is to find submitted stories similar
to stories that a user has “dugg”.
At first, this seemed like a great thing, but I then started to think about it some more.
- Suppose I use this recommendation engine, then its sort of like inbreeding. I only see stuff from the people like me. Perhaps I digg this stuff that is recommended - what happens then? I get more recommendations like this.
- Suppose someone (maybe someone like me) submits
something. Who would digg this? Well, perhaps no
one. If I have no friends to bump me up to a
certain level, then I will stay at one digg. How
could anyone, or why would anyone digg my story
(like this one)? Well, no one has dugg it so it is
not similar to other people’s diggs. Also, if most
people use the recommendation engine it will never
be seen. My poor story will be lost in a sea of
other lost stories. Maybe there is a special island
for unwanted stories - sort of like the land of
misfit toys on Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.
- On a bonus note. I have found the recommendation engine a great way to find new friends that will ignore all my stories, but at least they are like me.
