In a loose sense this is yet another recommendation thread. However, I was unable to find one that addressed the topic the way I am about to, How to recommend something. The idea can be extrapolated to any medium.
So the questions are: How do you go about recommending something; What problems do you see in others methods of recommendations. The goal is to improve the overall efficiency of recommendations, but also to satiate my curiosity of what goes through peoples mind when recommending something.
When I recommend something to a friend I keep the answers to a few key questions in mind. If they ask me to recommend something I will ask them the questions right there.
What is their favorite genre and why.
What genre are they interested in watching.
What tropes do they find annoying.
What works have they enjoyed in the past, and why.
What works have been a disappointment in the past, and why.
This gives me a fairly accurate picture of what they will like, and at the same time allows me to avoid introducing them to a series that contains a feature that will instantly turn them off of it despite it holding elements they would otherwise enjoy.
The first issue that I often see when people are recommending is when trying to expose someone to a new medium. The person recommending does a rational thing; They recommend their favorite title of the medium. What they fail to account for is that their friend may have different tastes than them. You may like action and they may like slow paced melodrama or vice versa. This can crush someones interest in a new medium or style and make them unwilling to watch other recommendations.
The second issue is a glaring one. When someone asks for something new that is similar to something else. I've seen people recommend titles that have nothing in common with the original title; sometimes not even from the same genre. I'm not sure how this happens, but I think the main cause is uncertainty in what the person wanting a recommendation is actually asking for. Refining questions can save a lot of pain on the person sifting through recommendations.
What are your thoughts on the issue?
So the questions are: How do you go about recommending something; What problems do you see in others methods of recommendations. The goal is to improve the overall efficiency of recommendations, but also to satiate my curiosity of what goes through peoples mind when recommending something.
When I recommend something to a friend I keep the answers to a few key questions in mind. If they ask me to recommend something I will ask them the questions right there.
What is their favorite genre and why.
What genre are they interested in watching.
What tropes do they find annoying.
What works have they enjoyed in the past, and why.
What works have been a disappointment in the past, and why.
This gives me a fairly accurate picture of what they will like, and at the same time allows me to avoid introducing them to a series that contains a feature that will instantly turn them off of it despite it holding elements they would otherwise enjoy.
The first issue that I often see when people are recommending is when trying to expose someone to a new medium. The person recommending does a rational thing; They recommend their favorite title of the medium. What they fail to account for is that their friend may have different tastes than them. You may like action and they may like slow paced melodrama or vice versa. This can crush someones interest in a new medium or style and make them unwilling to watch other recommendations.
The second issue is a glaring one. When someone asks for something new that is similar to something else. I've seen people recommend titles that have nothing in common with the original title; sometimes not even from the same genre. I'm not sure how this happens, but I think the main cause is uncertainty in what the person wanting a recommendation is actually asking for. Refining questions can save a lot of pain on the person sifting through recommendations.
What are your thoughts on the issue?