New Media Communication @ Tunxis CC - Spring 2007

Well, for this week’s assignment I’m supposed to go browse around at Amazon.com. I’ve been an Amazon user for many years, and purchase numerous things there–they’ve got one heck of a recommendation engine. When I look for books by liberal authors like Al Franken or Michael Moore, it recommends books by Molly Ivins and David Sirota (also liberal authors). When I was browsing for a Garmin C320 GPS Navigator to put in my car, it recommended the dashboard mount.

“It’s just an upsell” I thought at first. Then I read some user-submitted reviews for the C320, all of which recommended the dashboard mount. The C320 comes with a windshield mount, but after reading a handful of reviews stating that the unit is quite heavy, it made sense not to trust a shitty suction cup with my new $300 electronic toy.

Thanks to the recommendation engine and the user submitted reviews, I purchased the dashboard mount. Had I gone to the store, and tried to buy it at Circuit City or something, the commissioned sales staff may have made the same suggestion–but what made me believe the words of perfect strangers on the internet?

There’s no motive or kickback for the users who submit reviews. They obviously liked the product enough to write about it for free, and to share the wisdom of their experience.

Amazon.com is New Media because it’s participatory and because it’s responsive. The more you browse, the more you look around, the better it gets to know your tastes and tailors its recommendations to suit each individual person.