Weekly reflecton

Wishpot (http://www.wishpot.com) was my Web 2.0 find of the week. I like the idea that the recommendation engine drives me to other things that I might not otherwise consider. This is not a new idea. This recommendation filtering is, in my opinion, the true factor of genius behind Netflix (http://www.netflix.com). I generally know what’s hot. I know what the current hits are. What I enjoy is being reminded about the things I have forgotten or being pointed to new things that I have not yet considered. Anderson speaks to this in The Long Tail.

It’s not that I don’t like hits. I do. I like other things too. It is in those niches that are peculiar to me that I find the real gems. The interesting thing about Wishpot is that there is an element of social networking added to the mix. In the way that I express my preferences, I am grouped with others who haunt the same niches that I do. I get pointers to what baubles are on their wish list, the toys and tools of people bent in a similar to me. It’s scary but true…and fun.

I enjoyed T.A.’s presentation. I don’t think that Minebox is something that I would use but then, I am not in the group of people he was focused upon either. I am an early adopter but not an innovator. It seems to me, based upon his description, that T.A. is most focused on those people who fall within the innovator portion of the diffusion of innovations bell curve.