Picture Imprefect

Yes, I can indeed very easily picture myself with a job at Oracle. I hear they are doing some pretty cool stuff around marketing and personalization.

Personalization is difficult. I’ve written before about the uncanny valley where personalized results are so off the mark that they have an adverse effect. The trough of disillusionment where companies pretend to know their customers, but fail to deliver on that promise.

For instance, you would think LinkedIn would know I already work for Oracle.

Selling Ice to Eskimos

Facebook has recently discovered that beyond the uncanny valley of personalized marketing lies the bottomless pit of invasive identity misappropriation.

But there is a deeper problem here. I’ve said it before and I will say it again. Facebook has the data, but they do not have users with shopping intent. Nobody goes to Facebook to buy stuff. Facebook is for meeting friends, like a bar or a club.

Even with the best products in the world and the most detailed private information it is not easy to sell stuff to strangers in bars; unless you’re selling beer.