Mass Personalization Framework

The shift from mass appeal content and software to highly personalized experiences represents a fundamental change in how we consume and create digital products.

The evolution of mass personalization

• 20 years ago: Content had mass appeal requirements
  • Newspapers printed and delivered to everyone - "a little something for everybody"
  • TV shows like Friends had 55 million viewers
  • Everyone watched the same thing (like TRL after school)
• Today: Hyper-relevant, individualized content
  • TikTok, Instagram, Facebook algorithms deliver content specific to each person
  • Couples on the same couch consume completely different content (NBA highlights vs. crochet videos)
  • No human editor needed - algorithms curate automatically

What enabled mass personalization

1. Supply explosion

   • Everyone became a creator
   • Progression: Journalists → Bloggers → Tweets → Images → Videos
   • Supply went up "10,000,000x"

2. Algorithmic curation

   • Automatic editorial curation based on user signals
   • No human editor choosing what goes on your front page
   • Learns individual preferences and serves accordingly

The next wave: Personal software

• Old model: Software built centrally by talented people, must appeal to everybody
• New model: Highly personalized software for individual needs
  • Not just "Sam who likes business biographies"
  • But "Sam who likes business biographies AND is going through these challenges right now"
  • Software that knows what you need right now

Vibe coding - the interface for personal software

• What it is: Describe roughly what you want, system creates it iteratively
• How it works:
  • You're "just ordering and the chef keeps making for you over and over"
  • You didn't know exactly what you wanted but "feel the vibes" and get there
  • System gets smarter every time through feedback loops
• Beyond code: Now happening for other skills
  • Music creation without knowing Ableton or MIDI
  • Just describe the end result: "hype basketball intro music, make the crowd go wild"
  • No technical terms needed - go "straight to the end"

Creating feedback loops

• Feed learnings back into the system
• Example: "Remember this about me - I like these types of anecdotes for these reasons"
• Create a "README file" of what resonates with you
• System checks against preferences for future outputs
• Gets smarter with each interaction

Practical applications already happening

• Custom biography summaries tailored to personal interests and current life challenges
• AI-assisted communication (rewriting angry emails productively)
• Voice-to-text replacing typing entirely
• Automated team updates and dashboard monitoring
• Music creation from simple descriptions