Spotify’s Discover Weekly feature, which curates a fresh and personalized playlist for your every week, surfaced in class discussions during our preference algorithms exploration. And for good reason! Of all the algorithm-generated recommendations that I engage with regularly (on social media platforms, shopping sites, video services, etc.), I find this one the most desirable. The song recommendations are compartmentalized within the greater platform and are of a known quantity and refresh rate. Rather than bombarding me with things that match my preferences every time I login (like many apps tend to do), Spotify places 30 picks for me in a folder once a week and labels it aptly. There’s an inherent transparency to this process. As a consumer, I’m given a choice whether or not view and explore these recommendations. I find this makes me more likely to indulge Spotify and given them a try. Given the rise of automatic recommendations, perhaps retaining some level of perceived “choice” in content is valuable.
