Commentary
Personalization Vs. Stumbling: What's The Right Mix?
- by Joe Mandese @mp_joemandese, February 16, 2013
The next generation of online and mobile news publishing is going to leverage personalization in new says, the Mail Online Publisher Martin Clarke confided to Mobile Insider Summit attendees on
Captiva Island this morning. Clarke did not get too specific, but basically said the Mail is deep into the development of some new apps that will enable it to personalize the content it publishes to
individuals across different times of the day.
He indicated the development is not without its challenges, especially in terms of striking the right balance between
personalization and professional curation.
“It’s very difficult to say exactly how much personalization you give people,” he said, adding,
“Sometimes you get too personalized.”
This has become a common theme at MediaPost events, and struck a similar chord to what some speakers were saying at our
OMMA Data-Driven Marketing conference last month, where speakers said data targeting is getting so good, that Web site experiences are becoming almost to “relevant” to people and
they’ve found the need to add serendipity and surprise to users’ experiences.
Actually, that explains why Stumbledupon.com is still one of the most
trafficked websites on the Web. People simply like to stumble upon stuff.
Joe Mandese is the Editor in Chief of MediaPost. You can reach Joe at joe@mediapost.com.
