Re:Invisible Manipulation: ways our data is being used again...
by onion2k on Saturday October 13, 2018 @05:55PM
(#18210217)
Or at least one can say, you can use Amazon and Youtube better when guided by these algorithms
In the case of Amazon when I search for "headphones" there's plenty of data in my history on there that could aid a product recommendation - they know what music I like and what devices I use to listen to it via Amazon Music, they know what mobile phone I have from the Amazon app, they know that I like the Anker brand from what I've bought recently, they know approximately how much I spend on gadgets, they know I only buy things that I can get Prime delivery on and they even know which headphones I bought last time. And yet the search listing doesn't have the things I'd like most at the top. Or even in the top ten.
If they're trying to make the search better for me then they have failed completely.
In the case of Amazon when I search for "headphones" there's plenty of data in my history on there that could aid a product recommendation - they know what music I like and what devices I use to listen to it via Amazon Music, they know what mobile phone I have from the Amazon app, they know that I like the Anker brand from what I've bought recently, they know approximately how much I spend on gadgets, they know I only buy things that I can get Prime delivery on and they even know which headphones I bought last time. And yet the search listing doesn't have the things I'd like most at the top. Or even in the top ten.
If they're trying to make the search better for me then they have failed completely.