Re:Stopping the Internet of Noise – A useful internet back a...
by dredmorbius on Wednesday July 05, 2017 @09:48AM
(#14702336)
Or, worse: the discerning users or customers blot out the company (or its website) and go elsewhere.
A/B testing can't test for the users who aren't present.
Re:Stopping the Internet of Noise – A useful internet back a...
by nickpsecurity on Wednesday July 05, 2017 @02:26PM
(#14704946)
Don't forget the other part that's critical for the big players: lock-in. The first thing gets them to join willingly. The second coerces them to stay. A one-two punch for a acquiring and keeping market share with high margins.
The algorithm is known as "doing what users want". Very popular with companies and even open source projects nowadays. It works like this: you do some "analytics" of your product, or look what sells for others, assume it reflects what users want (and the things that are missing are obviously not wanted by users), and do those.
This algorithm ignores the fact that a lot of the time, users don't get any way to express preferences. Users buy/use what's available and what's popular. Through this algorithm, producers make choices for the consumers, and then use statistics to justify them.