Abstract: A method of operating a recommendation system comprises receiving an indication that a first user has knowledge of a first media item, and receiving an indication that a second user has expressed interest in the first media item, wherein the first user and the second user are associated. The first user is prompted to recommend the first media item to the second user, based on the first user's knowledge of the media item and the second user's indication of interest in the media item.

Abstract: A method of generating media pair similarity ratings comprises presenting a user with a first media item, and querying the user regarding additional media items that are most similar to the first media item. Input is received from the user indicating the additional media items that are most similar to the first media item; and a pair similarity rating is set for the first media item and at least one of the additional media items based at least in part on the input indicating the additional media items most similar to the first media item.

Abstract: A method of operating a recommendation system comprises receiving one or more elements of identifying information for a first user, and receiving one or more user demographic elements associated with the first user based on the received identifying information. The recommendation system generates an initial media preference profile from correlation between the one or more user demographic elements and media preferences known to be associated with the one or more user demographic elements.

Abstract: A method of providing multi-person media item recommendations comprises receiving media preference information for a plurality of users, and generating a composite media recommendation score for a plurality of media items for a specified group of at least two of the plurality of users using the media preference information for the two or more users for the plurality of media items. A media recommendation is provided for the specified group of at least two of the plurality of users based on the generated composite media recommendation scores for the plurality of media items for the specified at least two of the plurality of users.