A few months ago, I noted that LinkedIn seems to have a simple and not very thoughtful algorithm for recommending job opportunities to me. Ebay similarly seems to be using their Big Data capabilities like a blunt instrument.
Blunt Instrument – …it was 3:30 in the morning, and he thought he heard the opening of the sliding door into the garden. The squeaky third stair leading up to the bedroom confirmed the presence of an intruder, so he grabbed the nearest weapon he could find, his heavy duty camera tripod, and prepared to defend himself….
Just like LinkedIn, Ebay seems to grasp for the nearest tidbit of loose data from my activities, and goes to the trouble of building a recommendation around it. At best, this disregard wastes my time by filling my inbox with spam. Not so good, though, when the recommendation points out that I’m a dumb shopper who didn’t do his homework. Thanks for the recommendation, Ebay, but if the effort results in this, don’t bother.
I have an old Bose Sounddock, a nice set of speakers, but it is only possible to connect it to a classic iPhone/iPod with its 30-pin connector. I’d like to play other devices through those speakers, so the other day, I bought a special adapter cable that allows me to connect the Sounddock to the earphone jack of just about any MP3 player. I found just the right item on Ebay and ordered it. $8.99 later, the new cable was on its way.
A few days later, Ebay sent me the following email, recommending some items I might be interested in. How helpful of them to recommend the exact thing I had just purchased, only $1 to $2 cheaper. Not to mention the nature of this item, it’s not like laundry soap, toothbrushes or some other item I buy or replace frequently.
Leave a Reply