I think it is interesting that some people cherish the Amazon recommendations above everything, whereas others are fundamentally unhappy with it. Unfortunately I belong in the later category. Sure, sometimes Amazon comes up with something interesting to me, but in general it does not. I wonder if I am just too weird for a recommender system to grasp, or if it hints at the system still being very imperfect.
Well you know, half the time it's trying to shove its own products at you, are you confusing those with the recommendations?
I agree: I rarely find that suggestions based off of anonymous, aggregrate consumer "social" data helps "pick" worthwhile suggestions for me. If a category of shopping is completely new to me, then what everyone else knows can make me more aware of the commonplace options (which is helpful). But if I know anything about the category of items I am looking at, I really don't care what the anonymous masses already know because I know it already too or it's a very "obvious" connection.
Great article. Generalized personalization is going to be an increasingly big deal. In a few years, I think it'll be expected that almost any site you visit already knows who you are and what you're like.