How to create personalized content feeds using your interest graph May 17, 2013
Peter Sweeney (@petersweeney)
Content and media companies are getting excited about personalization (again). Companies like Gravity are touting the benefits: content that’s targeted to individual users generates more revenue for publishers and a more tailored experience for consumers.
Perhaps you want to join the personalization party, but you’re skeptical. What’s the catch?
If you’re like us, you find the notion of tracking and analyzing consumer behaviour offensive. You want to treat your consumers like individuals, but you don’t want to creep them out or betray their trust.
Most importantly, you want to bring your own expertise and knowledge to bear. You don’t want to categorize your consumers based on someone else’s knowledge. You want to use your perspective and interests as their guide.
Here’s how you can do-it-yourself with Primal.
Read more…
“You’re recommending what? For who??”
(Or how to fix your recommendation engine)
May 8, 2013
Peter Sweeney (@petersweeney)
Imagine this: I found a book in the bookstore that was almost what I was looking for. So I walked up to the store clerk for some help…
“Do you have any other books like this one?”
“I don’t know. Would you like to see other books that other people who looked at this book looked at?”
“No, that sounds silly (and a bit creepy). I’d like to see more books like this one.”
“OK. Would you like to see one of the hundreds of books that are in the same category as this book?”
“No, that sounds like a lot of work. I’d like to see more books like this one.”
“OK. Would you like to review any of the recommendations based on our surveillance of your browsing habits over your many visits to our store?”
“No, that’s completely creepy!! I’m outta here…”
How to Train Your Personalization Dragons
(Or how to train Primal’s AI to understand your interests)
May 1, 2013
Peter Sweeney (@petersweeney)
I love this post by Joshua Fruhlinger, Please don’t personalize me. I know who I am. It captures a sentiment that many of us share (1) (2) (3). Joshua provides a wonderfully non-technical and simple summary:
I know who I am. I don’t need Facebook or Google or Microsoft or Apple or anyone else to collect data and tell me what I’m interested in. I’m pretty sure I know what I like and don’t like.
It’s a great point: Not only are big data approaches to personalization privacy-invading and offensive, they don’t work very well!
There are much more direct and transparent ways to approach the opportunity of personalization. A system that allows you to be the master of your interests is self-empowering. In this post, I want to tackle one of the most common questions we receive: How do I train Primal to represent the interests I care about? 1
Primal: “Welcome to your interest network” Apr 24, 2013
Peter Sweeney (@petersweeney)
Some things are too important to leave to anyone else. For me, the health of my family is one example. There isn’t an aspect of that interest that I can live without. And when new information surfaces, it needs to find me.
Whether its your health, your business, or your life’s purpose, you need comprehensive information and a service that’s dedicated to your individual interests, 24/7.
Where can you find an information service dedicated to the topics and content you truly care about? Your interest network would be as unique and one-of-a-kind as you are. But you don’t have the time to build it yourself and you don’t have the money to get others to do it for you.
Welcome to Primal, your interest network, made-to-order. It’s free for individuals and affordable for companies of all sizes. And now anyone can start an interest network. Read more…
Where are all the Flipboard killers?
(Or how to build a personalized news app with only 10-lines of code.)
Mar 7, 2013
Peter Sweeney (@petersweeney)
Calling all innovators: we’re looking for people who can imagine a legitimately new experience for personalized news and information services.
Personalized news and information services have become common. What’s uncommon is a service that actually delivers a truly individualized experience; something that really moves the category forward.
In the sections that follow, we’ll show you how Primal can support your product development efforts by providing the data that describes the interests of individuals.
And we’ll show you how to do it using only a few lines of code.
Primal CEO Yvan Couture featured in Communitech’s 15th anniversary video series Nov 30, 2012
Ken Bryson
As part of their 15th anniversary celebrations, Communitech decided to check in with a few key entrepreneurs from Waterloo Region’s world-class technology community, including our own CEO Yvan Couture.
In this video series, Yvan reflects on the genesis of Communitech and his role in growing Waterloo Region’s technology community.
Explore interest networking with Primal’s new Web app Oct 2, 2012
Ken Bryson
Primal connects your personal interests to related topics and content from across the real-time Web. Primal makes it easy to put your interests to work by following and sharing the information you truly care about!
Launched today, Primal’s Web app is your new entry point to interest networking.
We are constantly exploring interesting topics from across the real-time Web. You can explore Primal’s interest network simply by clicking on a topic that interests you. From there, you’ll find dozens of connected topics of interest and content items to explore, such as news, videos, social media, and images.
How Primal’s artificial intelligence creates meaningful interests data Jul 3, 2012
Peter Sweeney (@petersweeney)
The most frequently asked question about Primal is, Where do you get the interests data? It’s a fair question. If Primal is the most comprehensive source of open interests data in the world, it begs the question of where we get this valuable data. (1)
Unlike our competitors, we don’t ingest and analyze vast amounts of historical consumer data to derive interests data. Instead, Primal’s computational engine creates this data on a just-in-time basis, with each and every request.
The reason Primal seems to have data about every conceivable topic of interest is that Primal is literally creating the data on-the-fly. Read more…
Why a small Waterloo company needs a world-class Board of Directors Jun 29, 2012
Yvan Couture
You can’t do it alone! Starting and growing a company requires dedicated founders, strong internal leadership, and exceptional employees. But it doesn’t stop there. Having outside advisors and external board members brings vital experience, fresh perspectives, and guidance that’s critical to success.
At our Annual General Meeting in June, our shareholders re-elected our lead investor and external board member, Jim Estill, and welcomed three new external board members to our team: Dr. Savvas Chamberlain, Dr. Larry Cornett, and Dr. Paul Hofmann. They join our founder, Peter Sweeney, and myself on our Board of Directors. Read more…
Primal-Powered Learning Sherpa Voted Education App with Most Potential Jun 11, 2012
Peter Sweeney (@petersweeney)
Learning Sherpa, a Primal-powered application that tailors educational content based on the intersection of interests between educators and students, was awarded The Learners’ Choice Prize in the Desire2Learn Edge Challenge. Learning Sherpa was selected as the submission with the most potential to have a lasting impact on teaching and learning.
