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Netflix started business lending you dvds by mail. They were providing all content they could get their hands on, not curating (except if you call Blockbuster o
by harperlee 8y ago
Netflix started business lending you dvds by mail. They were providing all content they could get their hands on, not curating (except if you call Blockbuster or any other videoclub a "curator of content", based on the fact that they did not have any film on existence). So yeah, they were a "neutral pipe" until they started creating content.
- dragonwriter 8y ago> They were providing all content they could get their hands on No, they weren't. Even Wwith DVDs, they had selection criteria. Though, sure, until streaming—and until streaming got competitive—breadth was a bigger selling point than it is now.
- harperlee 8y agoSorry perhaps I was not completely clear. (Part of) my point is that just having a selection done does not automatically turn your business into "curation". Early Netflix users used Netflix for the film availability, not for the film curation. In other words they valued the "positive existence"/access of the offering much more than the "negative existence" / curtailing of bad movies (users chose the films, so not so interested in curation when users also did it).