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  • March 2019
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Wattpad

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:18
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Abstract

How to run a platform to match four million writers of stories to 75 million readers? Use data science. Make money by doing deals with television and filmmakers and book publishers. The case describes the challenges of matching readers to stories and of helping writers produce better stories by supplying feedback on their chapters as they write, all by processing a billion data points daily. But it's hard to acquire new customer groups when algorithms have a bias to replicate the tastes on which they are trained.

Keywords

Platform Businesses; Creative Industries; Publishing; Data Science; Machine Learning; Collaborative Filtering; Women And Leadership; Managing Data Scientists; Big Data; Recommender Systems; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Intellectual Property; Analytics and Data Science; Publishing Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Canada; United States; Philippines; Viet Nam; Turkey; Indonesia; Brazil

Citation

Deighton, John, and Leora Kornfeld. "Wattpad." Harvard Business School Case 919-413, March 2019.
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About The Author

John A. Deighton

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Related Work

    • August 2019
    • Faculty Research

    Wattpad

    By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
Related Work
  • Wattpad By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
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