For Your Consideration

Have we hit peak recommendation?

One of the most basic things I do to begin my classes, is go around the room and each student shares what they’ve been watching/reading/listening to/playing. Some students pull out lists they’ve been keeping on their phones (not that we would do that with the state-wide phone ban), and others check their Letterboxd accounts. It’s the most highly requested activity to start or end the class from students.

The ecosystem of the internet thrives on connection and, further to this, recommendations. Through the creation of our filter bubbles, we weave a web that links everything we like and don’t like, in some instances what our eyes have stopped on, and in other the links we’ve chosen to share with friends. There are many a meme about the onslaught of memes you may send others – a small way to say I saw this and thought of you. The ‘getting’ of the same joke is equivalent to saying that you and I have a similar viewpoint, we have things in common. Ironically the internet has shown us that a lot of us have things in common, even if that thing is incredibly niche. It has also homogenised our behaviours by search terms so that we can easily identify ourselves and others.

You may be familiar with the idea of content farms, businesses that exist through the creation of large amounts of content which pleases the algorithm. Yet I feel like we are all farmers in our own way, sorting the content which we want to focus on and see grow in our feeds and farming out an assortment of links and recommendations to those in our network. Often this work exists online – it’s shared through messages and social networking sites (SNS) but sometimes the work moves offline. We ask people if they’re watching a certain show or read that article, we sent them. We refer to a meme or The Simpsons, even though the audience for that is definitely narrowing.

Through this work, and it is work, that occupies much of our time and mind, we build cultural capital. A concept identified by Pierre Bourdieu as the non-economic value we gain that helps us to connect and exist with others. The capital can be both tangible or non-tangible. Given the remix culture in which we exist how much of it comes from original thought and how much was subconsciously inspired by something we saw online, or by someone else who saw something online, it’s hard to decipher what is coming from where. But there is an undeniable form of kinship when you both realise you have the same favourite band.

SNS have made recommendations, and those we trust them from, a whole form of content on its own. New in and favourite videos mimic the conversations we would have with a friend. Both Letterboxd and Good Reads allow people to log their media but further to this, the type of media you log and how active you are on these sites within different circles creates a different kind of credibility. One of my students once saying to me ‘Tash, you need to update your Letterboxd’, because to them it was an important way to measure my legitimacy as a media teacher, as well as a way to connect. People’s participation in these apps allows us to know them better and relate to them in another dimension. Even Netflix seeks to understand us by prompting us to let them know if we like this so they can make recommendations.

Recommendations from don’t quote me on this.

On this very platform you are encouraged to both trust recommendations from a writer when you subscribe to a newsletter, as well as build the type of connection and credibility with your audience that means they will trust your recommendations as well. I love recommending things and I love receiving recommendations too! We have spoken many a time about the way that influencers build relationships with audiences to sell products, and the same tactics apply. You gain people’s trust by being consistent and then recommending things that you know they will like, if they do like it, you’ve forged the relationship where these recommendations work. The strength of your relationship will determine whether you can suggest something that is a bit more of a risk, or if they will return for more recommendations if one doesn’t work out. From the other perspective, somebody consuming content you’ve recommended can also be a keyway to build a trusting relationship. Romantic or otherwise, these online connections enhance the offline experience that you have of that person and vice versa.

Recommending things is easy, as is reading a list of recommendations. That’s not to downplay its value but rather highlight the appeal in both the consumption and creation of content which trades on one’s tastes. This content which is at one both aspirational (eat this/watch this/do this and you too can be like me) is also capitalistic in that many recommendations result in spending money. The nature of the affiliate links and the relationship between content creators and businesses means that the click through and amount of people which buy the recommendation are two important factors. Businesses like LTK are built around this and encourage you to ‘shop the creator’. Both shopping, scrolling through SNS and sharing things (either 1:1 or via a story) are quick ways to gain dopamine.

The role that brands play combined with the value of cultural capital suggest that content based on recommendations will only increase. Platforms seem to like this content too. It creates data points for them as well as attracting users to the platform to both share and gain recommendations.

If who we are is a collection of our habits and how we spend our time, then perhaps we are made up of all the recommendations we share and accept.