I've listened to a couple of things in the last few days bemoaning the flattening of taste that happens when all recommendations are algorithmic. Marina Hyde lamenting the end of Pitchfork and critical voices. This Ezra Klein episode.
And I get that. That's a thing.
But the ambiently social internet has given us something back too. The wisdom of friends and acquaintances.
Ezra Klein was saying he used to decide what films to watch based on what film critics said in newspapers and now he looks at aggregated scores on Rotten Tomatoes. And he's sad about that.
But it made me realise that I decide what film to watch based on a vague sense of what I've heard about it from you lot.
From people I vaguely know on the internet.
I'll have seen someone blog about it, or mention it on mastodon or instagram or something. And that's enough to nudge me in some direction or other. It's hard to think of a specific example right now. That's how it works, it's ambient. But it's definitely a thing. So, please, keep saying what things you like. And I'll try and do more of the same.