The Downside of Personalization?
From Issue #21
I don’t know what to make of this Black Mirror-esque article from Scientific American about content personalization.
How Personalization Leads to Homogeneity
The general point is that personalization is really effective, and therefore detrimental over the long-run:
When coupled with design and engineering practices informed heavily by behavioral data (and not necessarily personalized), addiction, dependence and a host of other concerns arise. In the moment, people may be satiated, but that doesn’t mean they like who or what they’ve become if/when they reflect on their behaviors.
Lest this keep you up at night, just remember that personalization at scale is a really, really hard thing to do.