hunch

One of the activities for the week is to investigate Hunch. It claims to be about personalizing the internet, but appears to be about marketing. I've found recommendation engines like this to be remarkably poor, but perhaps that has more to do with me and my quirks.

How could something like this be used for teaching and learning? It's a way of exploring connections, and finding new connections, which sounds a lot like learning to me. But it seems like the Hunch model needs to have massive participation to be truly effective. And does it offer anything that isn't already out there? I'm not seeing it, so I'll have to think on it some more.