Posted on March 8, 2006 at 2:12 PM in @earthlink
Note: The below is an archived entry from Earthling, formerly EarthLink's official blog. The blog itself has been decommissioned and is no longer updated, and comments are trackbacks are no longer accepted.
Product Manager Scott Frost gave me a sneak preview today of our new TV Listings application in beta, due to be released in the next couple of weeks. I saw an earlier version in Pasadena back in January, and in this short period of time it's really come together. It does all of the things you'd expect from a smart TV listings grid, and adds a few features that I haven't seen elsewhere in quite the same way. It doesn't tie back in to your TiVo or Digital Video Recorder(DVR) system yet, but that's something we're working on as part of a future release.
A slice of the TV Listings basic grid view. It gets more interesting than this.
It's our first application that showcases an idea called "Return On Preferences." I've wanted to talk about this ever since my first Pasadena visit, but it's hard to explain unless you can see a concrete example.
Return On Preferences is the idea that entering specifics about what you like and don't like is a pain. It's effort. You should only have to do it once. Every time you sign up for a new web application, or a MySpace.com account, or a Flickr.com account, you get a 3-4 page questionnaire asking you about yourself. Why should you fill it out unless you get something out of it that's really of use? I usually skip most of it unless I can see that the site knowing about me is going to make my experience better.
I'm not talking about advertising, I'm talking about functionality. If the site wants to know something about you, it should make good use of that information on the site itself. Otherwise it's not worth bothering.
But it's not just that. You also don't want the site to make iffy guesses about you. That's creepy. It's creepy when Amazon.com tells me I might like Don't Sweat The Small Stuff. No I woudn't, not ever. You don't know me at all, and stop talking to me. It's creepy when TiVo tells me I might like to watch Poker For Moms as I'm not a mom and I hate poker. Sorry poker-playin' moms, I'm sure the show is great for you.
"Passive personalization" is when a site takes some things it knows about you from questionnaire, and tries to make suggestions and guesses about what you might like based on those things. That's different. There are better and worse versions of that out there, but "Return on preferences" is much simpler and more literal. If I tell the site I like the actor who plays "Locke" on Lost, I want the site to:
- Know that every time it asks me something about my television habits or what I like. Unless I change my mind.
- Make the simple and obvious suggestions that go along with that. Don't give me other bald and soft-spoken actors, give me all of the shows he's on.
- Give me the choice to take all of that information into my set-up, use a part of it, or use none.
EarthLink's TV Listings is built with this in mind, and with the idea that a site needs to be flexible to the needs of different types of users. If you're interested in lots of suggestions and recommendations, the site should be johnny-on-the-spot with all of that for you, and do a good job of it. But if you just want a smart TV listings grid and to be left alone, it should do that and get out of your face.
I'll write about this in more detail when you can actually interact with it yourself. But for now, here's what a search results page looks like. In the process of explaining this, I can explain how "Return on Preferences" works.
Who Knew John Locke from Lost was on Matlockback in the day.
So I searched for the actor's name, "Terry O'Quinn". The first thing it does is ask me if I want to get recommendations on a regular basis on shows that Terry O'Quinn stars in. "Stars in" is a bit strong for Terry's roles before Lost. But see how it gives me the choice? And then it lets me change the date range I'm searching in. And every show you see there has a star next to it. Clicking the star adds that show to my favorite shows list and tells the whole site that I like that show and Terry O'Quinn. If I like more of these shows I can keep adding them from this page. The little down arrow gives me more details about each show.
It's not assuming anything about me or my taste in hunting knives because I like Terry O'Quinn, but it is giving me the option of layering on more smarts by bringing me back future results sets.
Here's what the "favorites" tab looks like:
"Recommendations" that the site offers are always kept separate from "Favorites," which are things you've told the site you like. And you can toggle showing all of the reruns of all of your shows, or just the first-run of each episode. You can do more fine adjustments in the preferences tab, but here it's just a clear and simple listing of the shows you like and when they're on. And that's what this application is about -- it fills a simple need with a simple solution, and offers some more smarts if you want them.
Return On Preferences is something that doesn't have to be confined to one application space either. Since my.EarthLink is a whole portal, it would make sense if one day the specifics of what you told us in TV listings were useful to you in other ways on other parts of the site. To me, it works great when it stays with the specifics, isn't creepy, and removes a step you'd otherwise have to do manually. As long as I maintain control of my information and can change it, hide it, or remove it where I don't want it, it's a big help.