First time visitors to my home generally fall into one of a handful of types: those who check out my books, those who check out my music, and those who check out the magazines on the coffee table. While I hang their coats or fetch drinks and snacks, visitors to my home need to do something to occupy their time. Almost without exception, they fill this time by examining the media content in my home because it tells them something about me.

Some people investigate my book collection. They gauge not only how “well-read” I am—are the shelves packed with Danielle Steele or thick academic tomes?—but what’s happening in my psyche as well. For sure, a bookcase filled with self-help handbooks and Chicken Soup for the Soul betrays an internal struggle that I might not otherwise admit.

Some go straight for the music, and here I always feel vulnerable. I am not cool or cutting edge or even terribly interested in music, and I get nervous when musicians investigate my iPod. Yet they will do so, to understand me, perhaps, or just to guide me to a better musical landscape.

Others still take stock of my magazines—is it Money that’s dog-eared and bookmarked? Or is it Better Homes & Gardens? Wired? Architectural Digest? Magazines give hints to what’s on my mind, and are great for creating small talk over that first drink.

Yes, some visitors trail me into the kitchen or pet the dog to fill that void-time when I’m finishing dinner or opening a bottle of wine, but most visitors know they have a rare opportunity to get inside my head while inside my home. And if my friends can understand me better by understanding the content I consume, why can’t software do the same? It can. And it does, in the matchkey. Instead of analyzing your demographic data, or your purchase history, or your size, or weight, or how much hair you have left, the matchkey analyzes the data you consume. From that analysis, we can recommend new content that you will love without maintaining a lengthy profile or history of your behavior. The anonymity of the key prevents vulnerability at the same time—no user data that tells Big Brother or advertisers or your spouse what your real interests are.

Given that understanding content is the key to understanding you, just how do we do it? Well, that’s the subject for another post.