6 ms·

Introducing Netflix Social

46 points by zrail 14y ago

alexobenauer 14y ago
Non-mobile version: http://blog.netflix.com/2013/03/introducing-netflix-social.html http://blog.netflix.com/2013/03/introducing-netflix-social.h...
AUmrysh 14y ago
netflix needs to add co-watching where you can join someone else's watching session in real time and comment/chat about it with them like is in the xbox 360 version.
- danvideo 14y ago
  This is exactly what I was thinking --- is it really that helpful to see a long list of what your friend watched? I think being able to live chat/talk/connect DURING or before/after an actual show would be much more "social".
- eberfreitas 14y ago
  That would be really awesome. It remindes me of Wahwah, an iPhone app that lets you listen to music with other people.
- chenster 14y ago
  I've never tried co-watch. Can you enlighten me with your past experience with that? Presumably, it's great for watching live events. For watching a TV or movies, how would that be practical? Can you only watch together with your friends or you can do that with random people?
  - zevyoura 14y ago
    I don't think you could pair with random users, it was party based like XBL games.
  - chc 14y ago
    Why would you want to do it with random people? My family does a sort of "ghetto co-watching" all the time, where they'll phone somebody up and say, "Hey, want to watch Foo? OK, start it playing … now!" I know lots of people who do that sort of thing. That's who co-watching is for — people who want to watch something together but not necessarily make a trip to somebody's house.
    - simcop2387 14y ago
      My SO and I would do that fairly constantly with a few TV shows when I was living across the country. Making that trip every week for an hour of TV and talking was getting expensive :)
- illuminate 14y ago
  And a Rifftrax plugin ;)
- gottagetmac 14y ago
  This is exactly what I was hoping for when reading this title... but of course it's just the tired "share this on Facebook" feature that Netflix had for a minute a few years ago and every non-VPPA-affected site has had for years. When will companies start getting more creative with social?
- tomku 14y ago
  The Xbox version lost that capability with an update a few years ago, unfortunately. I think that's a bad sign for it getting a wider release.
- RVijay007 14y ago
  YES! This is what I wish for all the time, especially for the long-distance relationship. :-)
amykhar 14y ago
I'm still not seeing the social settings options in Netflix. Perhaps not rolled out to everybody yet.
- barranger 14y ago
  In the article it specifically states that it's rolling out this week, and you may not get it till the end of the week
freefrancisco 14y ago
Netflix also needs a "share with your friends how you watched the last season of this show which is not in Netflix yet" feature.
mortenjorck 14y ago
At long last, over three years after its ignominious removal, Netflix Friends makes its return. I don't think I really want to use this, though. I'm cautious about what automatic data I allow into Facebook (I'm sure they're already inferring enough from my friends), and while ironically I wouldn't really care if my viewing habits were automatically shared with my friends, I don't really want that data accumulating in Facebook's graph portrait of me. [edit] I get that sharing with your friends doesn't happen unless you opt in, but the way it's described, it's not clear if that default state is "all activity is sent to Facebook but not posted to your timeline" or "no activity is sent to Facebook at all."
- freefrancisco 14y ago
  Good point, I want to see what my Netflix friends are watching for ideas on what to watch, and I want to share selected things I liked. But I don't necessarily want Netflix to automatically tell the world that I just watched "Giant Zombie Time-Traveling Alien Nazi Wasps" because I was bored and there was nothing else good around.
  - nollidge 14y ago
    FTFA: > By default, sharing will only happen on Netflix.
- TechNewb 14y ago
  Exactly. I would prefer Netflix's initial friend system with an option to integrate with FB. I find there are very few of my friends whom I would be interested in their taste, and vice versa. A very small percentage of my friends would want to watch Blade Runner and 400 blows on repeat, and I doubt that any of them would be interested that that is what I choose to watch. There are different social spheres, and facebook is a public sphere now. What is stopping Netflix from creating their own social network? Where you could follow people whose movies taste you like? So I for one will not connect, and hope that they create a real customizable social experience that is unique to Netflix. Nothing is worse than frictionless sharing, that's not a social experience that I think has a sustainable future.
- 14y ago
barranger 14y ago
I begrudgingly understand the delta in content from region to region due to licensing deals. But can anyone explain to me why they would do the same with functionality that wouldn't fall under any such licensing deals?
- bcrescimanno 14y ago
  Netflix has had Facebook integration outside the US previously; recent changes to the US VPPA act have allowed similar functionality in the USA.
- mgillett 14y ago
  I'm pretty sure it has to do with local laws covering disclosure of viewing records. The reason this is now possible in the US is that Netflix just managed to get Congress pass an amendment to the VPPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act). This feature disappeared three years ago because someone sued them over an alleged violation of this law.
tomjen3 14y ago
This isn't really useful. Netflix needs more content, not more 'features' that only benefit the company.
rgbrgb 14y ago
Wow, please fix that pixelated header image!
- nollidge 14y ago
  It's the mobile page - that graphic is meant for a small screen.
- zevyoura 14y ago
  Remove the query string from the URL to get the desktop version.
apawloski 14y ago
From what I understand, Netflix had some particularly difficult hoops to jump through before they could implement this. Not the least of which was getting federal legislation passed by Congress [1]. [1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/netflix-social-sharing-bill_n_2367385.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/netflix-social-shar...
damoncali 14y ago
This is the opposite of what I want (I just want to watch TV - it's sort of my antisocial indulgence). Three things I do want, though: Get the shows my kids watch out of my suggestions. It's not that hard - there is already a kids section. Keep them separate. Get better movies. I would be willing to double or tripple my fee to get more good movies and shows. Live Sports - I'd pay a lot for this, considering it's really the only thing that keeps my Cable TV around.
- bennesvig 14y ago
  If you get a Roku, you can get live sports. You'd then have to pay for a season pass for each sport, but likely still cheaper than cable.
  - adestefan 14y ago
    Be careful about blackout rules if you go down this route. If any of the teams you follow are local, then you probably won't get to seem them on the streaming services.
  - damoncali 14y ago
    Alas, I cannot. My main interest is PAC 12 Football, and the cable networks have a lock on it. You can stream to your heart's desire - if you have cable.
- jerf 14y ago
  "Get better movies. I would be willing to double or tripple my fee to get more good movies and shows." I've found Netflix streaming subscription + iTunes/Amazon for selected purchases/rentals to be a cost-effective combination, since neither iTunes nor Amazon have any sort of up-front payment to get in. (Amazon Prime's videos are generally a subset of Netflix's, at least the ones I care about, so I don't count that.) Sure, Netflix isn't getting my money, but, shrug. Still no cost-effective solution for live sports, IMHO.
  - malyk 14y ago
    The various streaming packages are pretty good for live sports IF you live outside your home teams region AND your team isn't featured on national broadcasts often (applies to the NHL for sure, not sure about the others). NHL Game Center Live - %149 for the year in normal years IIRC MLB.TV - $129 for the year NBA League Pass - $99 NFL Game Pass - $149 (only on PS3?)
parbo 14y ago
Hmm, I'm pretty sure we've had these features in Scandinavia since Netflix launched here.
albertoavila 14y ago
That's weird, I'm on Mexico and we've had those features for several weeks now. While you are watching a film you can choose to not share a specific title. I've seen the feature both on the PC and on the PS3. Maybe they did their test drive with the non-us version? EDIT: Nevermind, i read further down on the comments how that feature was removed previously from the us version due to legal reasons.
circa 14y ago
kind of reminds me of the site movies.io - they stripped the torrents and now its a great site for keeping watchlists.
whaevr 14y ago
NO, NO, NO! My response on reading the article title. Why the hell does everything have to be socially linked now a days? If I really want my friends to watch something I recently discovered on Netflix or whatever, I'll tell them about it. Not spam their facebook wall. Focus more on getting more recent titles on instant stream and less on how I can spam your website to my friends, who already all are using it heavily anyway.
- metageek 14y ago
  I agree, except for the "focus" bit. The engineers that worked on this alleged feature would not have been much help signing new content distribution deals. (Well. I'm generalizing. I'm an engineer, and I know I wouldn't be.)
  - whaevr 14y ago
    Right, the focus bit was more or less aimed at Netflix.. management I suppose? So something like "stop deciding we need social features implemented and perhaps use said time and effort towards getting more distribution deals signed" I was legitimately upset when I wrote that comment and not thinking the clearest hah
driverdan 14y ago
I'm so sick of companies connecting to Facebook to steal my info and spam my friends. I guess people must want to do this but I can't understand why.
eswangren 14y ago
I will never understand why seemingly every web based product wants me to share everything I do with "friends", where "friend" is defined as "random people you may have met once or went to high school with". I don't care what movies you watch. At all. I (used to) use Netflix (when they had new releases) for watching movies and shows, not for catching up with people I couldn't care less about.

46 points by zrail 14y ago

Non-mobile version: http://blog.netflix.com/2013/03/introducing-netflix-social.html http://blog.netflix.com/2013/03/introducing-netflix-social.h...

AUmrysh 14y ago

netflix needs to add co-watching where you can join someone else's watching session in real time and comment/chat about it with them like is in the xbox 360 version.

danvideo 14y ago
This is exactly what I was thinking --- is it really that helpful to see a long list of what your friend watched? I think being able to live chat/talk/connect DURING or before/after an actual show would be much more "social".
eberfreitas 14y ago
That would be really awesome. It remindes me of Wahwah, an iPhone app that lets you listen to music with other people.
chenster 14y ago
I've never tried co-watch. Can you enlighten me with your past experience with that? Presumably, it's great for watching live events. For watching a TV or movies, how would that be practical? Can you only watch together with your friends or you can do that with random people?
- zevyoura 14y ago
  I don't think you could pair with random users, it was party based like XBL games.
- chc 14y ago
  Why would you want to do it with random people? My family does a sort of "ghetto co-watching" all the time, where they'll phone somebody up and say, "Hey, want to watch Foo? OK, start it playing … now!" I know lots of people who do that sort of thing. That's who co-watching is for — people who want to watch something together but not necessarily make a trip to somebody's house.
  - simcop2387 14y ago
    My SO and I would do that fairly constantly with a few TV shows when I was living across the country. Making that trip every week for an hour of TV and talking was getting expensive :)
illuminate 14y ago
And a Rifftrax plugin ;)
gottagetmac 14y ago
This is exactly what I was hoping for when reading this title... but of course it's just the tired "share this on Facebook" feature that Netflix had for a minute a few years ago and every non-VPPA-affected site has had for years. When will companies start getting more creative with social?
tomku 14y ago
The Xbox version lost that capability with an update a few years ago, unfortunately. I think that's a bad sign for it getting a wider release.
RVijay007 14y ago
YES! This is what I wish for all the time, especially for the long-distance relationship. :-)

amykhar 14y ago

I'm still not seeing the social settings options in Netflix. Perhaps not rolled out to everybody yet.

barranger 14y ago
In the article it specifically states that it's rolling out this week, and you may not get it till the end of the week

freefrancisco 14y ago

Netflix also needs a "share with your friends how you watched the last season of this show which is not in Netflix yet" feature.

mortenjorck 14y ago

At long last, over three years after its ignominious removal, Netflix Friends makes its return. I don't think I really want to use this, though. I'm cautious about what automatic data I allow into Facebook (I'm sure they're already inferring enough from my friends), and while ironically I wouldn't really care if my viewing habits were automatically shared with my friends, I don't really want that data accumulating in Facebook's graph portrait of me. [edit] I get that sharing with your friends doesn't happen unless you opt in, but the way it's described, it's not clear if that default state is "all activity is sent to Facebook but not posted to your timeline" or "no activity is sent to Facebook at all."

freefrancisco 14y ago
Good point, I want to see what my Netflix friends are watching for ideas on what to watch, and I want to share selected things I liked. But I don't necessarily want Netflix to automatically tell the world that I just watched "Giant Zombie Time-Traveling Alien Nazi Wasps" because I was bored and there was nothing else good around.
- nollidge 14y ago
  FTFA: > By default, sharing will only happen on Netflix.
TechNewb 14y ago
Exactly. I would prefer Netflix's initial friend system with an option to integrate with FB. I find there are very few of my friends whom I would be interested in their taste, and vice versa. A very small percentage of my friends would want to watch Blade Runner and 400 blows on repeat, and I doubt that any of them would be interested that that is what I choose to watch. There are different social spheres, and facebook is a public sphere now. What is stopping Netflix from creating their own social network? Where you could follow people whose movies taste you like? So I for one will not connect, and hope that they create a real customizable social experience that is unique to Netflix. Nothing is worse than frictionless sharing, that's not a social experience that I think has a sustainable future.
14y ago

barranger 14y ago

I begrudgingly understand the delta in content from region to region due to licensing deals. But can anyone explain to me why they would do the same with functionality that wouldn't fall under any such licensing deals?

bcrescimanno 14y ago
Netflix has had Facebook integration outside the US previously; recent changes to the US VPPA act have allowed similar functionality in the USA.
mgillett 14y ago
I'm pretty sure it has to do with local laws covering disclosure of viewing records. The reason this is now possible in the US is that Netflix just managed to get Congress pass an amendment to the VPPA (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_Privacy_Protection_Act). This feature disappeared three years ago because someone sued them over an alleged violation of this law.

tomjen3 14y ago

This isn't really useful. Netflix needs more content, not more 'features' that only benefit the company.

rgbrgb 14y ago

Wow, please fix that pixelated header image!

nollidge 14y ago
It's the mobile page - that graphic is meant for a small screen.
zevyoura 14y ago
Remove the query string from the URL to get the desktop version.

apawloski 14y ago

From what I understand, Netflix had some particularly difficult hoops to jump through before they could implement this. Not the least of which was getting federal legislation passed by Congress [1]. [1] http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/netflix-social-sharing-bill_n_2367385.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/26/netflix-social-shar...

damoncali 14y ago

This is the opposite of what I want (I just want to watch TV - it's sort of my antisocial indulgence). Three things I do want, though: Get the shows my kids watch out of my suggestions. It's not that hard - there is already a kids section. Keep them separate. Get better movies. I would be willing to double or tripple my fee to get more good movies and shows. Live Sports - I'd pay a lot for this, considering it's really the only thing that keeps my Cable TV around.

bennesvig 14y ago
If you get a Roku, you can get live sports. You'd then have to pay for a season pass for each sport, but likely still cheaper than cable.
- adestefan 14y ago
  Be careful about blackout rules if you go down this route. If any of the teams you follow are local, then you probably won't get to seem them on the streaming services.
- damoncali 14y ago
  Alas, I cannot. My main interest is PAC 12 Football, and the cable networks have a lock on it. You can stream to your heart's desire - if you have cable.
jerf 14y ago
"Get better movies. I would be willing to double or tripple my fee to get more good movies and shows." I've found Netflix streaming subscription + iTunes/Amazon for selected purchases/rentals to be a cost-effective combination, since neither iTunes nor Amazon have any sort of up-front payment to get in. (Amazon Prime's videos are generally a subset of Netflix's, at least the ones I care about, so I don't count that.) Sure, Netflix isn't getting my money, but, shrug. Still no cost-effective solution for live sports, IMHO.
- malyk 14y ago
  The various streaming packages are pretty good for live sports IF you live outside your home teams region AND your team isn't featured on national broadcasts often (applies to the NHL for sure, not sure about the others). NHL Game Center Live - %149 for the year in normal years IIRC MLB.TV - $129 for the year NBA League Pass - $99 NFL Game Pass - $149 (only on PS3?)

parbo 14y ago

Hmm, I'm pretty sure we've had these features in Scandinavia since Netflix launched here.

albertoavila 14y ago

That's weird, I'm on Mexico and we've had those features for several weeks now. While you are watching a film you can choose to not share a specific title. I've seen the feature both on the PC and on the PS3. Maybe they did their test drive with the non-us version? EDIT: Nevermind, i read further down on the comments how that feature was removed previously from the us version due to legal reasons.

circa 14y ago

kind of reminds me of the site movies.io - they stripped the torrents and now its a great site for keeping watchlists.

whaevr 14y ago

NO, NO, NO! My response on reading the article title. Why the hell does everything have to be socially linked now a days? If I really want my friends to watch something I recently discovered on Netflix or whatever, I'll tell them about it. Not spam their facebook wall. Focus more on getting more recent titles on instant stream and less on how I can spam your website to my friends, who already all are using it heavily anyway.

metageek 14y ago
I agree, except for the "focus" bit. The engineers that worked on this alleged feature would not have been much help signing new content distribution deals. (Well. I'm generalizing. I'm an engineer, and I know I wouldn't be.)
- whaevr 14y ago
  Right, the focus bit was more or less aimed at Netflix.. management I suppose? So something like "stop deciding we need social features implemented and perhaps use said time and effort towards getting more distribution deals signed" I was legitimately upset when I wrote that comment and not thinking the clearest hah

driverdan 14y ago

I'm so sick of companies connecting to Facebook to steal my info and spam my friends. I guess people must want to do this but I can't understand why.

eswangren 14y ago

I will never understand why seemingly every web based product wants me to share everything I do with "friends", where "friend" is defined as "random people you may have met once or went to high school with". I don't care what movies you watch. At all. I (used to) use Netflix (when they had new releases) for watching movies and shows, not for catching up with people I couldn't care less about.