The Filter works by combining all the collaborative filtering methods I mentioned in the last section. Another way it gathers data is by allowing users to import profiles from other services, like Last.fm and Flixster, or data from their computer by downloading a plug-in. The plug-in application can work with iTunes, Windows Media Player, or Winamp. It sends the information back to its servers and uses it solely for improving user recommendations. “We are very keen to integrate other music-only, movie-only or TV-only services that make The Filter even more useful for people,” says CEO David Maher Roberts.
It is yet to gain the capabilities of other plug-ins, like iLike, which can show you other users with similar tastes that you might want to befriend. However, the Filter does have a social network component that allows you to add friends via email and communicate with them either through onsite mail or a wall similar to that of Facebook. It's important to remember that this site is still somewhat new, so more social features can be expected in the future along with other media types, such as books, as long as the data can be measured electronically. As of this writing it has over 5 million songs and over 300,000 movies.
When you first sign up on The Filter, you must first complete a somewhat brief profile wizard that helps the site make some initial recommendations. You can mark items that you already own so they won't be recommended again. You rate items by using a +/- sliding scale (with little blurbs explaining what that position would mean in terms of a rating) as opposed to a number-based scale. All of these little tasks help The Filter get to know you better.
Several different filters based on metadata are used to optimize the results. Roberts says the system “crunches evidence in the form of purchase data, consumption data, and browsing data to work out the strength of connections between content items.” Ultimately, he wants to be able to filter through input gathered outside the active user, such as the user's friends, product experts, and even celebrities.
In the last section of this article, I'll go over some of the major goals The Filter aims to achieve in the near future, including a new form of advertising. Oh, but I'm guess you saw that one coming a mile away.
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