Comments on: Hunch as a shopping recommendation tool

By: BuzzillionsJim

BuzzillionsJim — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 23:39:27 +0000

Great post. Your conclusion is spot on. We’ll try out some of those ideas. The future of shopping online needs to up its game. However, shoppers are only temporally interested in any given thing they are buying so getting so much info from them can be challenging.

By: nicolasleroy

nicolasleroy — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:58:01 +0000

@Tom Pinckney - thanks for the explanation ; I understand the logic and the need to find the right mix. It also shows me how exciting it should be to analyze the correlated data produced by your engine. Keep up the good work ! @Sean - Totally agree with your comment and the uniqueness of Hunch. I wonder: by using Hunch APIs (I have just scratched the surface), there may be ways to mash up data with other data sources (i.e: coming from a CSE)

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 16:06:37 +0000

Hunch is definitely one of the most interesting new sites. Will probably be a “Top 100″ site before long. There are so many things they will be able to do with their universe of smart objects.

I think your “cameras” example is good at highlights the strengths and weaknesses of the system. On the plus side, it is unique. So even if it is not your primary tool, it makes sense to check in and see what they say. Also, the community feel and game mechanics are very conducive to leaving product reviews and adding content.

The downside, IMO… it is disconnected from the rest of the comparison process, at least for the more intensive topics. You can’t set must-have attributes and you can’t easily compare the underlying data… sometimes you at the mercy of the “black box” and plenty of “black box sites” have come and gone.

Although I’d guess they will iterate quickly. And for topics that do not have any real decision support tools, Hunch is a revelation. After you find enough of these topics that click for you, Hunch starts to become top-of-mind as a portal of decision tools.

By: Tom Pinckney

Tom Pinckney — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 15:49:06 +0000

Hi, it’s Tom from Hunch. Great blog post!

I would like to follow up on the issue you raise about surprising questions being asked. One of the interesting things about Hunch is that anyone can create questions and the system learns whether those questions are correlated with what people like.

In the case you mention about being asked whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, the system has learned that this question is highly correlated with what kind of camera people like. Here’s one example that shows there’s a statistically significant increase in probability between people who say they are pro-life and people who like the Nikon D40:

http://hunch.com/explore/prospect/report/?e1=452823&e2=-521714

The system has learned that this question is not just correlated with the Nikon D40, but many of the cameras in Hunch.

That said, I agree this is a jarring question for many people. One thing we’re still working on is the right mix of editorial review, explanation about what’s going on and algorithmic learning for these questions.