

How Companies Learn Your Secrets - 127001brewer
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/19/magazine/shopping-habits.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=all

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ameribrit27
This article boils down to three main points:

1) Companies are better understanding customer psychology, especially when it
comes to making purchases. Both understanding habit formation and probing
receptiveness to marketing messaging are included in this bucket.

2) Companies are better able to draw correlations between pieces of known
data. It's always easy to say at a 30,000 ft level that when it rains, more
umbrellas will be sold; now those correlations are at the individual customers
level.

3) Companies are betting linking together the understanding of customer
psychology and the correlations of various customer actions, to improve their
marketing. They can look for actions that cue them into what behavior status a
potential customer is currently experiencing, and market with a highly
targeted message.

All three of these points are ones that web companies have been working on
many many years. There are certainly many more insights to unlock there, but
what's particularly at the fore-front of data mining is the application of
these three points to brick & mortar retailers, where data has traditionally
been harder to collect and understand.

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np1782
A really interesting article. Really wonder how and what companies like
Amazon, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, have learned through data mining.

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wallflower
Basically I believe they are at the point where they can virtually go through
our trash. Which is what spies can do.

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desas
I believe they're at the point, or will be if they can stay relevant for long
enough, where they can have a good stab at our future before we know anything
about it.

n% of 20-something year old Billys facebook Saturday statuses mention 'pub',
'hangover' and 'pint' between 2000 and 2330. Therefore chances are that Billy
will be in the pub every week in between those times.

x% of Billys family had photos of them being grey haired at 55, therefore
Billy is likely to go grey at about the same time.

n% of Billys friends had taken photos of babies by age j after being in a
relationship for k years. Billy has been in a heterosexual relationship for x
years therefore is m% likely to have a child at a similar age.

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shallowwater
I really liked the discussion of the habit loop. I've never seen it explained
that neatly before.

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selenamarie
BJ Fogg has been doing weekly habit formation sessions on this topic:
<http://tinyhabits.com/>

It's a great exercise if you want to hack your own habits and learn about his
methodology and research at the same time. Uses all the same ideas.

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cdjarrell
Fascinating article, behavioral economics and decision choice are exploding
and I'm interested in seeing how habit formation adds to them. I look forward
to the author's book being released later this month

