Free Business Ideas #1 — Personal Algorithm Time?

I’m sharing these ideas because so far I don’t think my entrepreneurial skills would allow me to make this happen — but I think this must be done by someone anyways!

Let’s start!

Youtube suggests what to watch. Facebook feed shows You their opinion of a great time. Twitter shows conversations You just have to be a part of. Medium picks 5 articles You have to read today. Google measures the importance of information and presents it in an orderly fashion. And all of these companies have one thing in common!

You have no real choice.

Let’s start with another premise… In order to improve Yourself — You need to put Yourself in uncomfortable situations. If You can’t talk in public, You should fail in public speaking as many times as You need until You finally succeed. And then put more work on top to improve even more. Same goes for any other field. You want to grow muscle? Pick a weight that You can’t even lift. Repeat till You lift it once. Lift it 10 more times. Lift it a hundred more times. Thousands. Millions. Become a professional.

What does algorithms have to do with it? Well, they make You comfortable. As soon as they catch You binge-watching something — they spam You with similar content. That’s the problem of blacklists, isn’t it? Ban people You don’t agree with. Close-mind Yourself! What seems like a little help to Yourself, eventually ends up being a personal hell where Your surrounding environment has only the same opinion as You. And once You get there — You become more and more socially unbearable. Algorithms do a great job closing You in a bubble.

So what’s the business idea?

Personalized Content Feed Organizer. Organize Your bubble. Be in charge of it! If there could be a way, to shape content flow so You get to see it by personal preferences. So You would get triggered just the way You want to be triggered. And I know what You say now — whaaaat? We already do that. We follow stuff we like, we watch stuff we like and that’s how we personalize everything. Ads become Yours. Video feeds become Yours. Tweet line-up become Yours.

That’s exactly where the problem is. Algorithms treat You as stupid (and maybe even makes You more stupid along the way) because they assume that they know better what You should do. Algorithms see no perspective. And it’s easier for You to give in than to resist what they suggest and fight back. Hard to resist would be quite ok, but the biggest problem starts when it’s unfightable at all. They don’t think that maybe it’s better if You can’t access gaming videos on weekdays. Or maybe even better if You don’t get access to gaming videos at all. That surely would be more productive! Because You are starting a company now, and something about financing could be more valuable to You today.

It’s not about personal choice, actually… it’s about VALUE.

Right habits, will bring You to the right place. You would own personal tool, that would allow You to choose Your own rules for the content You see. No gaming videos on weekdays. Monday is personal financing day. Saturday is movie day. Please show me ads not according to what I buy… Please show me ads according to the newest trends in digital drawing. Why? Because I don’t want to stumble upon a better option after I already bought something. I want to stumble upon a better option — before I buy my first digital drawing monitor. Because I know I am considering buying one.

Algorithms just know what You googled and when You googled it. Not why You googled it.

Your Personal Algorithm Preference Modulator would come in handy in not allowing Yourself to treat Yourself with harmful content. It will allow You to steer the boat and hold direction. Not to just be in the boat while it’s traveling down the river. Moreover, if You know Yourself and know things that are harmful to You, You could just help Yourself resist something by not pressing on it whenever You see it. Because You wouldn’t see it.

Keep focus. Just like the first thing to do when You are quitting drinking is not to have alcohol in the house. So is the first rule of not reading false, clickbait articles is not to get links to them.

All of the overthinkers by this point probably already has a comeback to this idea. Isn’t it even more hardcore way to let everyone close in their own bubbles? I’m proud of You if You had this idea! Yes, it is!

That’s the best part about it — there’s no way of avoiding personal bubbles. We just have to embrace them the right way.

Let me give You a personal example. Back in 1998 I was a 5-year-old playing DOOM 2 (released in 1994) on a PC somewhere in Eastern Europe. Next to Doom, there was Mario, there was Dune 2000, Supaplex and couple of other games. All of that — on a fricken DOS computer. Back then — if You owned a PC, YOU KNEW ALL THE POSSIBLE GAMES. Because You got that computer from other people that had computers. And there were just so many people that actually had computers. If You got one game from someone — chances are, they had all the games. If they didn’t — they at least knew people that had all the games. Because there was like 10 games to have if You live in Eastern Europe. Even though in general there were way more titles. So from a 1998 Eastern European perspective — You live in an illusion of scarcity. 20 years later and my personal perception tells me, for sure there are thousands of games. Millions maybe.

Let’s assume I like games and have a personality that has problems with moderation. That could easily lead me to gaming more and more and more and more until I either die or end up with a ruined life in rehab. That would mean it might be healthier for me to know that there are 10 games again. And that they are rare. And boring. I would get bored with them soon and proceed to books or something useful to be addicted to (like Medium).

Assuming I know that there are millions of different games to try, what I actually do is play really old titles and avoid googling new games as hard as possible. So I wouldn’t waste my time. That’s how I achieve personal moderation. While I struggle with moderation in general. So, I choose what I should be addicted to on purpose, instead of trying stuff around and eventually falling off a massive cliff.

As a person that gets easily addicted… I achieve moderation by avoiding comfortable content.

Lucky people now are those, that know how to turn that noise down. Because You can’t turn that noise off. You need that noise to survive. And that noise is getting smarter and smarter. It’s already smart enough and big enough — there is no way to turn it off entirely (unless You actually live in a woods scenario and meet no other people).

Back to business! We all could use an algorithmic remote. A personal remote, that helps You change channels. To improve Your personal algorithm. And because the internet is not something that has only one screen, like TV had. It has billions of tabs and You can’t use the internet with one tab either. It could be useful to have an opportunity to help Yourself with a remote. A remote that allows You to choose how You want to be surprised. A remote that allows You to finetune content-flow according to Your strengths and weaknesses. Content that makes You uncomfortable and allows You to grow. According to Your goals and preferences. Not by corporate preferences. Your preferences.

And those who say… wait! There already are tools like that!

No there’s not. I know how to delete cookies. I know how to find settings and change them. That basically does nothing. You are still shackled to a certain corporate business plan. That is exactly why most of the stuff is free. And then You grow how big brothers want You to grow. You use words, that are allowed to be used. You see things, that You can’t avoid seeing. You read stuff that must be read. You imagine things You are allowed to imagine. You have thoughts that You are allowed to have.

I wish we would have more personal saying in that! We need a way to make our own personal internet laws. It’s time!