Sequences of Diverse Song Recommendations: An Exploratory Study in a Commercial System

Abstract

This paper presents an exploratory study of the perceptions users have of diversity and ordering in playlist recommendations. There is a match between the diversification approach used in the system, and importance that users placed on the item properties. Surprisingly, participants had no expectations of the songs being in a particular order in a playlist. We discuss possible explanations for this finding, refining the research agenda to consider which ordering choices are perceptible to users, and influence user satisfaction.