At its very core, the Interest Engine is trying to find things that are interesting for you and ignoring the noise. At the core of those other systems is a desire to make you buy something or increase consumption of their products.

Another difference is that those other systems are showing you things that you might like based on your history; in some ways, this is similar, but the Interest Engine is also trying to show you things that you have never experienced or seen before. The Interest Engine’s questions are not annoying sales pitches like the other systems, as you’re building something for yourself that answers to you and helps you, not helping build something that optimizes what you can consume. The difference may sound subtle, but it’s extremely important as we are willing and interested in building things for ourselves that benefit us personally.

Another difference is the need for speed. The Interest Engine isn’t going through a warehouse full of goods and trying to sell you things that are overstocked that you have a slight chance of interest in. As a side note, think about that calculation for Amazon where they calculate the risk of you getting annoyed vs the reward if they sell you something that’s highly profitable for them or was overstocked. If you want to see this in action, try looking for AA Energizer batteries and look at all of the random crap that they “recommend” to you that are not Energizer batteries or aren’t the size you actually need. Okay, back to the point, which is the Interest Engine notifies you of things in real-time, so you can use that information for your personal benefit.