One embodiment is a method executed by a computer system that applies collaborative filtering to provide a recommendation to a user. The method includes retrieving a binary matrix that includes rows and columns of binary data for preferences of users on items; applying a neighborhood-based approach to convert the binary matrix into a neighbor-score matrix; applying a factorization to approximate the neighbor-score matrix with a product of lower rank matrices; calculating a user factor and an item factor based on the factorization; calculating scores for user-item pairs by computing a dot product between the user factor and the item factor; sorting the scores of the user-item pairs to generate the recommendation to the user; and providing the recommendation to a general-purpose computer of the user.