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Netflix should build their own social network, for the heck of it. I like having different social networks for the various public spheres I participate in, inst

Netflix should build their own social network, for the heck of it. I like having different social networks for the various public spheres I participate in, instead of trying to manage 'one social network' for all of the public spheres I interact in.

jrwoodruff 14y ago
Personally I would rather share my movie watching habits with a few close friends (who are Netflix subscribers) than the 300+ acquaintances I have on Facebook. I want to explore movies based on trusted sources, not share with the world that I just watched season 3 episode 4 of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.
- jeffool 14y ago
  I can't imagine it would be too hard to have a browser plug-in that asked you to rate video after a viewing, and if you wanted to push your rating to social networks. Pushing yes could prompt "Jeffool just gave 5 stars to <film>" with a link to the video on Netflix.com, and no (or not connecting social media) could just skip that step. Then it pops up suggestions or the next film in your playlist, and you keep going. /edit: Moreso, if everyone has a free Netflix account to rate films, then they're already used to your site when you push for sign-ups.
spindritf 14y ago
> Netflix should build their own social network, for the heck of it. Not just for the heck of it, it makes sense, they're in a perfect position to build last.fm for movies/tv. They could even run an open video scrobbler and lure in pirates little by little.
- TechNewb 14y ago
  Totally agree. When I say the 'heck of it' I mean it from the corporations perspective. As it is a huge cost with minimal initial payoff. But film buffs are a great niche market to build a social network off of, and would create a stickiness to the Netflix platform, so we wouldn't see another great leave from Netflix most likely. Ping was a failed idea from the beginning, because it was obvious to the end user that the only reason of its existence was to immediately boost profits. If Apple treated Ping like they do their packaging, with a strong focus on end user experience, Facebook would have been scared.
lylemckeany 14y ago
Oooo, that does sound like a good idea. Definitely not a quick way to grow their customer base, but could payoff in a large way if done correctly. Meh, Netflix would probably screw it up under the existing management.
Ogre 14y ago
Didn't they do this already, once upon a time? I know that in the pre-streaming disc only era, I used to have "friends" on Netflix and could send and read reviews of movies, and get recommendations based on what my friends had watched. I had a few real life friends added and a larger set from an online forum I used to be a regular on. I honestly don't know if that even still exists, and netflix.com seems to be giving me errors tonight so I can't check. Now that TVs and game consoles can get there and I no longer have a disc plan at all, I rarely visit the site in a browser. The various set-top-box clients I've used don't expose that functionality at all, so it may be gone or relegated solely to the browser, which at this point feels like the backwater of the Netflix experience.
- TechNewb 14y ago
  True. I don't know why they have moved backwards in user experience. The best way to find out about films is from user generated lists, not algorithms. The best way to experience a film is a rich discussion after about the artistic or political meanings. These types of interactions don't work on Facebook unless you want to be labeled by your co-workers as a French film loving weirdo. If you love Bladerunner, what other movies would you recommend? Netflix's algorithm is not great when it comes to recommendations, they just recommend camp. Bladerunner is anything but camp. Edit: Would be great to have the social media element be integrated into the TV and console apps. I to love these apps, and would love to find and follow other similar users and friends on the Netflix network.
  - Ogre 14y ago
    I googled it, they dumped the friends feature in 2010. Given that it took a year and a half for me to notice, it's hard to fault them too much. http://blog.netflix.com/2010/03/friends-update.html http://blog.netflix.com/2010/03/friends-update.html

jrwoodruff 14y ago

Personally I would rather share my movie watching habits with a few close friends (who are Netflix subscribers) than the 300+ acquaintances I have on Facebook. I want to explore movies based on trusted sources, not share with the world that I just watched season 3 episode 4 of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

jeffool 14y ago
I can't imagine it would be too hard to have a browser plug-in that asked you to rate video after a viewing, and if you wanted to push your rating to social networks. Pushing yes could prompt "Jeffool just gave 5 stars to <film>" with a link to the video on Netflix.com, and no (or not connecting social media) could just skip that step. Then it pops up suggestions or the next film in your playlist, and you keep going. /edit: Moreso, if everyone has a free Netflix account to rate films, then they're already used to your site when you push for sign-ups.

spindritf 14y ago

> Netflix should build their own social network, for the heck of it. Not just for the heck of it, it makes sense, they're in a perfect position to build last.fm for movies/tv. They could even run an open video scrobbler and lure in pirates little by little.

TechNewb 14y ago
Totally agree. When I say the 'heck of it' I mean it from the corporations perspective. As it is a huge cost with minimal initial payoff. But film buffs are a great niche market to build a social network off of, and would create a stickiness to the Netflix platform, so we wouldn't see another great leave from Netflix most likely. Ping was a failed idea from the beginning, because it was obvious to the end user that the only reason of its existence was to immediately boost profits. If Apple treated Ping like they do their packaging, with a strong focus on end user experience, Facebook would have been scared.

lylemckeany 14y ago

Oooo, that does sound like a good idea. Definitely not a quick way to grow their customer base, but could payoff in a large way if done correctly. Meh, Netflix would probably screw it up under the existing management.

Ogre 14y ago

Didn't they do this already, once upon a time? I know that in the pre-streaming disc only era, I used to have "friends" on Netflix and could send and read reviews of movies, and get recommendations based on what my friends had watched. I had a few real life friends added and a larger set from an online forum I used to be a regular on. I honestly don't know if that even still exists, and netflix.com seems to be giving me errors tonight so I can't check. Now that TVs and game consoles can get there and I no longer have a disc plan at all, I rarely visit the site in a browser. The various set-top-box clients I've used don't expose that functionality at all, so it may be gone or relegated solely to the browser, which at this point feels like the backwater of the Netflix experience.

TechNewb 14y ago
True. I don't know why they have moved backwards in user experience. The best way to find out about films is from user generated lists, not algorithms. The best way to experience a film is a rich discussion after about the artistic or political meanings. These types of interactions don't work on Facebook unless you want to be labeled by your co-workers as a French film loving weirdo. If you love Bladerunner, what other movies would you recommend? Netflix's algorithm is not great when it comes to recommendations, they just recommend camp. Bladerunner is anything but camp. Edit: Would be great to have the social media element be integrated into the TV and console apps. I to love these apps, and would love to find and follow other similar users and friends on the Netflix network.
- Ogre 14y ago
  I googled it, they dumped the friends feature in 2010. Given that it took a year and a half for me to notice, it's hard to fault them too much. http://blog.netflix.com/2010/03/friends-update.html http://blog.netflix.com/2010/03/friends-update.html