“It is not about finding a particular book. Rather, it is about discovering things that I did not know to search for. “…
“All of these sites are great, but the process for discovering content that appeals to me is painstakingly inefficient. I shouldn’t have to read through hundreds of articles, sites, blogs, and emails to discover the one or two pieces of content that pique my interest.”…
“I want a discovery engine. ”
— joelaz
Joe! I am so thrilled you think about this stuff! For me, this is the most exciting thing about content on the web. Seriously.
I found though, that the very thing that makes your discoveries special and valuable to you is that you’ve invested effort to find them and many other arbitrary factors that affect your perception and liking of something. That’s why they are yours, that’s why you are even so moved by these thoughts.
If these same discoveries were provided to you via some significantly easier system, odds are high that you would not appreciate or like them enough the same way you’ve felt about your other finds. This is why tools that help discovery to some degree are great, but there can never be a magic black box that will recommend you things you will love.
What’s worse is that even if such a box theoretically exists, the users of the box will not believe it. People have such a complex system for why the like stuff that is easier to manipulate than to predict.
In fact, I’d argue it’s easier to create a system where people THINK you’ve recommended them the greatest thing ever, but in fact nothing like that really happened. Though then, you are really a marketer, and that’s less cool. :)
