Using a recommendation algorithm doesn't make any sense for Netflix' new business model where they produce their own content. It should be easy. They greenlight or buy the rights certain content for different demographics to maximize the coverage of their user base that has their needs satisfied enough to stay subscribed. If you're a 18-35 male, they've surely got people there working daily to make sure there's a content pipeline coming just for you. They shouldn't need AI to tell me that, they just need to identify when I'm in the demographic of one of their shows coming, and tell me about it. Maybe like a list. Still, they seem like they're doing a bad job at it, as I never really know what new shows Netflix is making for me. Sometimes I find out about them years later.
For example, compare this to Disney+. I vaguely know about every Marvel and Star Wars thing 2 years in advance, and usually vaguely know what order they're coming out, and I don't even know how I know this, somehow I just know. Okay, that's easy because it's basically 2 IPs. But ultimately Netflix is doing something similar behind the scenes, why haven't they succeeded at making me aware of what content I'm supposed to be hyped for?
To be honest, I would be happy if their 20+ people UX team would create an experience where I can easily find what I was watching instead of shoving stuff down my throat that I have no interest in.
Then again, as long as people pay for that experience, it will continue to be as unbearable as it is.
Right? Like can we please get a user story on some agile board somewhere that says: "As a user, if the last 10 times I opened netflix I watched the same show, I should be shown the option to resume that show very prominently"
The number of times I've had to scroll or even search to find the thing that I very obviously want seems intentionally maddening.
Same reason IKEA has no story: "As a custom, if I know what I want to buy, I would like to be able to go the shortest way from entrance to product to exit."
And yet IKEAs have signs notifying you of shortcuts. If you know what to get in an IKEA and know which department to find it in you can get in and out with some real quickness if you pay a little attention.
It's clearly not their main target, but it's also obviously still a target.
I am old enough to know a time when these signs did not exist and the shortcuts were unlabeled doors looking like the typical emergency exit. Regardless of the signs, IKEA makes it deliberately hard to just get what you want without being exposed to products you probably don't want. I find that apps that send you on a detour is pretty much the same tactic.
This is the problem across the board, regardless of service almost. Everything is some crappy recommendation system, instead of enabling me to find what I want.
In addition to sucking in general, recommendation systems have this great property of radicalizing people politically.
This feels like a disingenuous argument. “Young to middle-aged man likes Marvel and Star Wars” is such an obvious pick that it just about invites parody. As someone with at this point zero interest in Star Wars / Marvel content I a) wouldn’t retain the information that you did and b) wouldn’t find it to be that impressive that D+ was shoving it into my face.
To not understand the usefulness of recommendation algorithms almost feels intentionally contrarian.
For example, compare this to Disney+. I vaguely know about every Marvel and Star Wars thing 2 years in advance, and usually vaguely know what order they're coming out, and I don't even know how I know this, somehow I just know. Okay, that's easy because it's basically 2 IPs. But ultimately Netflix is doing something similar behind the scenes, why haven't they succeeded at making me aware of what content I'm supposed to be hyped for?