Harry Potter, that is. I somehow found myself browsing for designer sunglasses as I am sometimes wont to do late at night while drunk and/or stoned (I didn't buy any, don't judge me) and my Amazon page displayed the following:

Eleven percent of people shopping for Christian Dior sunglasses bought the new Harry Potter book.

Astounding. That's where the clever Amazon preference system breaks down, a little - because obviously the book is nothing like the sunglasses; it just shows you how many fucking people are buying this book - so many that it's skewing results; and by skewing results, it pushes into a feedback loop (the more people buy it, the more it appears in "recommendations", and therefore the more people click on it and buy it, etc.) This is sort of the internet's anti-Long Tail effect - the hit-amplification effect.

Am I the only one left who doesn't own a copy of this blasted book? And will I accidentally one-click it and become one of the 11%? Posted by jane at July 28, 2007 02:06 PM