How is it useful for them to play songs that someone is just going to skip and may encourage them to stop using the service though?
Comment on [deleted]
BURN@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Because they’re not just recommendation algorithms
They’re optimized to generate the most revenue, or direct the most clicks to certain things. They take your likes/dislikes into account, but they’re not the only metric, and arguably for the platform are the least important.
squiblet@kbin.social 1 year ago
BURN@lemmy.world 1 year ago
iirc Apple Music pushes certain “popular” artists. There’s always an agenda, be it getting paid under the table or promoting more lucrative ads. Sometimes they’re A/B testing on users to see if pushing a certain artist or genre results in more or less playtime.
But really it comes down to user choice being the last thing they think of. They think they know best, and think they should dictate everything.
Algorithm design is good enough that it can effectively recommend with extremely good accuracy, but that doesn’t necessarily always work in favor of the companies in charge.
Quatity_Control@lemm.ee 1 year ago
The fact that this topic has no good algorithm experience, I question if it is good enough. I think the algorithms suffer from feedback loops.
BURN@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Generally you can attempt to filter that out, but it’s also why there’s frequent A/B testing of these algorithms. It’s why the algorithms always feel like they’re subtly changing at these mega corps. They’re constant trying different things to find what results come out of it.
There’s absolutely feedback though. Once something gets critical mass it becomes easier for it to get more since the algorithm is going to have it r at. FiA idly high ranking no matter what
squiblet@kbin.social 1 year ago
The entire recommendation concept is such an obvious feedback loop. "When we show you items from a-e from a set ranging from a-z, butd never anything from f-z, you click on something from a-e! So you must love those!"
squiblet@kbin.social 1 year ago
Sure, they don't really care if the user is happy as long as the user subscribes or views ads. In the Facebook experience I listed in another post, Facebook doesn't care if you're happy. They might make more money if you're frustrated or angry, as long as you don't stop using the site. This type of customer abuse is easier for companies that have a monopolistic position.
Quatity_Control@lemm.ee 1 year ago
It’s also a feedback loop. They suggest popular music, which exposes it to more people, which makes it seem more popular, which means it gets suggested more…
kirklennon@kbin.social 1 year ago
Except this obviously doesn’t apply to all of these situations, including OP’s very first example. For what it’s worth, I find Apple Music’s recommendations to be pretty good, but in any event, there is no financial motivation to recommend any particular song over another. The only goal is to make you happy so you keep subscribing.
The simple, non-conspiratorial answer is that machine learning is neither perfect nor psychic.
reddig33@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Sounds like payola.
Zak@lemmy.world 1 year ago
It is like payola. It’s not usually direct payments that would require disclosure though. It’s likely some attempt to calculate what’s most likely to lead to high-value ad clicks.