[fyrabanks]

I'm not sure why I'm replying to click-bait PR, but here it is anyway:

Maybe I'm alone here, but I have an extreme distaste for personalized search results. I know what I want to see; it's pretty rare search knows what I want to see when it's trying.

Take the "chips" example from the interview--maybe I'm tired of eating the same fucking chips every day. Maybe I just want to know what the most popular options out there are without having to scroll a lot. Not to mention that I have a preference for Pringles, I'm going to type the brand name into the search when I want to find it. (If I'm a dog lover, I don't expect Google to rank dog results first when I type in "animals." I expect information about animals in general.)

[AstroChimpHam]

Founder here. It's a probabilistic problem from the perspective of solving personalization. If you tend to want something different after trying the same thing a bunch of times, the algorithm should learn that as well-- that's also personalization.

There's also been a ton of research done that most consumers do want personalized experiences, will pay more for them, and will be more likely to churn if they don't have them. There's a pretty good list at https://venturebeat.com/2017/08/18/hyper-personalization-mar....

Some examples from that article:

>>> Forrester uncovered the fact that 77 percent of consumers have chosen, recommended, or even paid more for a brand that provides a personalized service or experience.

Accenture found that 75 percent of consumers are more likely to buy when you show you recognize them as an individual and provide recommendations based on their unique wants and needs.