Intro
User-to-user content platforms use organic personalisation to deliver culturally relevant experiences that make users feel "seen" and represented, demonstrating how thoughtful customisation can enhance inclusion and user satisfaction without compromising privacy.
The Challenge
An online content platform that does not allow users to personalise their experience may fail to serve diverse European audiences effectively. For example, some users struggle to find relevant hair styling tips, music recommendations, event announcements or cultural content that is relevant to their preferences and needs.
The Solution
Platforms can implement personalisation features that allow users to customise their content experience based on their personal characteristics, without requiring personal data such as a person’s name or location. These personalisation tools can learn the content that is most relevant - e.g. makeup for a particular skin tone, recipes from a particular culture, or match updates for a particular football team. Users can then see content that is more relevant to them, increasing engagement while decreasing the fatigue of scrolling through irrelevant updates. In parallel, users benefit from system transparency to understand how their inputs lead to more personalised content. This allows them to feed back to the system to “correct” or steer personalised content that is not meaningful to them, while still being able to browse and discover new and non-personalised content.
Why This Matters
As well as creating an overall more enjoyable experience, this approach can address significant representation gaps that affect user wellbeing and platform value. For example, research indicates that 75% of ethnic minority beauty consumers engage with content when it features diverse skin tones. Users report feeling more "seen" and valued when platforms surface content that reflects their experiences and needs, and can spend time with content that genuinely helps them without scrolling through irrelevant material.
