Now and then 16 Feb 2007

The Wall Street Journal explains why Netflix's red envelopes are gathering dust in many subscribers' homes (WSJ article requires subscription to view):

"In a 1999 experiment, a group of volunteers were asked to choose movies to rent from a list of 24 videos. Their options were a mix of what researchers termed 'low-brow' movies -- including 'My Cousin Vinny' and 'Groundhog Day' -- and 'high-brow' offerings, such as 'Schindler's List' or the subtitled 'Like Water for Chocolate.' The researchers found that when people chose movies to watch the same day, they often picked comedies or action films. But when they were asked to pick movies to watch at a later date, they were more likely to make 'high-brow' selections."

This article again proves that we are extroadinarily bad at predicting what we'll want in the future. It also demonstrates why you shouldn't ask your users' questions like "Which of these three features would you like to see added to our site?"

[via evhead]