Netflix has tried and failed at integrating social media into their website. Their most prominent attempt, the Friends feature, was declared a failure back in May and quietly dismantled in the months following. But it looks like they’re getting back on the social media wagon, with a very powerful friend:
Netflix revealed it is in the process of implementing “an extensive Facebook integration” on Wednesday, marking a significant change from its previous absence from the social Web…In addition to helping identify discrete people within a household, Facebook integration would presumably allow Netflix to help users do things like share their personal viewing history in their newsfeed and recommend videos to friends. Understanding social networks could improve Netflix’s famously honed recommendation algorithm. It might also be an opportunity for Netflix to create social viewing experiences.
There are a couple of reasons why Netflix is doing this, and probably the most important part to them is that “discrete people” deal; at the moment they don’t do a good job of distinguishing users from households. But I’m not convinced that idea of users sharing their viewing history on Facebook will work. People like to watch embarrassing shit, and many people don’t like to talk about the embarrassing shit they like to watch. I rent movies that I can’t bring myself to see in the theater, and I expect I’m not alone. For example: Last night? Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps*, and I’ve also watched Resident Evil: Afterlife** and Dinner for Schmucks*** in the last week or so. I’ve gone on Tinto Brass**** and 80s horror-movie tears recently, too. And while my movie-going life is (often distressingly) public because, well, it’s part of my job, I just don’t think that most users want everyone to know what they’re watching all the time. No matter how you sell it, it’s not going to work.
(Footnoted mini-movie reviews can be found after the jump.)
* This was not a good movie—what’s up, Shia LaBoeuf?—but I enjoy that Oliver Stone keeps trying so desperately to be relevant. I’m starting to think that you can view his oeuvre as the anti-zeitgeist. As soon as Oliver Stone makes a movie about it, you know it’s jumped the shark. I actually think Natural Born Killers might have made serial killing uncool.
** Also not good, but it is one of those Milla Jovovich movies with weirdly gorgeous, hyper-fake-looking action sequences. Watched on fast-forward, you barely even notice that the movie doesn’t have an ending. I’m convinced that one day someone will cut out all the exposition from these Resident Evil movies and condense them into a single, hourlong fight sequence. I will watch the fuck out of that movie.
*** SO BAD. Lindy warned me, but I didn’t listen. Always listen to Lindy.
**** If you’re too lazy to click over to Wikipedia: Tinto Brass is the Italian version of Russ Meyer. Only instead of Meyer’s boob obsession, Brass is obsessed with the female ass. You may know him for Caligula, but he’s done way better than that. In fact, I like his movies much better than Meyer’s, especially Cheeky!
Everybody is throwing Facebook and Twitter badges on their shit like it’s going to make a difference. Who cares if Discount Tire or the fucking plumber is on Twitter?
Famously honed? That’s a load of shit.
*** the French original was better.
** total suckage.
**** wiki usually sucks – IMDB is better. most Italian TV is like that, actually.
I thought the first 45 min. or so of Wall Street Money Never Sleeps was pretty decent. And then……. yeah. Of course, I saw it on a plane, which dramatically lowers my standards for what’s “good.”
But, I definitely got this feeling that Oliver Stone was trying too hard to be hip and with it (both in content and in style).
Thank God they’re not pushing this. Wonder if Apple will learn sooner than later and not develop their little iTunes friendship deal any further also.
No matter what companies like Facebook and their (former) ilk boast about “connect 100 jillion people” or somesuchshit, it’s importance is way overstated. It’s simple voyeurism that keeps people logging in to their site. No one cares where their friends shop, and “liking” topical issues doesn’t move them anywhere… people are on those damn sites to look at should-be personal pics of their loose acquaintances and roll their eyes at updates about pets and babies and DJ nights. When it’s movie watching time, who gives a fuck about any of that.
The “connection” anyone through social networking has a lower factor of propinquity than a damn phone tree. Match dot com will probably have a more impressive historical impact.
This explains why my Netflix stock went up so much! Yay for a day or two of an inflated portfolio, until we all realize its one more thing we can live without.
Yeah, though they’re paying to develop the interface, it’s just to keep up with the Joneses. They don’t give a fuck if it flies or not, they can’t afford to not give it a chance, is all.
Facebook needs to fucking DIE already, I’m so sick of people who spend their entire life on there.
I dunno…
I think it’s kind of funny when I’m listening to Pandora, and one of my Facebook friends profile pic pops up and it say so & so likes this artist. Lets me know what kind of shit my friends are a-listening too. Perhaps I’m strange, but I find that interesting.
“No matter how you sell it, it’s not going to work.”
Oh, I don’t know Paul. I’m an FB cynic too and expressly keep my “profile” blank as an overcast day because I don’t want FB to find my info particularly profitable to sell. But plenty of people do plug in their druthers and habits. I’m quite sure that plenty of people will be happy to share their movie-viewing habits on Netflix with this greater FB data-orgy. They don’t need perfect data — 100% compliance from all FB/Netflix users. Just more data, that they can sell along to advertisers. And they’ll get it. It’ll work just fine.
We’re witnessing the Great Centralization of the Net. Google, FB, Twitter and that other thing. Hi ho.
Just like with daily life in the city, it is a struggle to keep advertisements and advertisers from constantly bombarding you with their product pitches. Mentally fending them off. It’s tiring, frankly. Boo hoo hoo.
Tinto’s “Salon Kitty” is, um, interesting.
Quit hating. Dinner for Schmucks as an overall experience wasn’t great, but individual scenes were quite good. All those stuffed and posed mice, c’mon, that’s gold.
I hate that Netflix did this. When they got rid of the friends feature I wasn’t happy but they have so much content and they are the only circus in town for what they do. I liked being able to see what my friends watched, we’re friends because we have similar tastes etc. I called Netflix a couple months ago when they were doing away w/ the friends feature and talked to a customer service agent. He more or less just tried to tell me how awesome Facebook was. RAGE!
It’d only work if Netflix let you push high-brow titles into your FB feed so that everyone thought you were cultured. That way, all your friends would think you were watching The 400 Blows when you actually spent the weekend with the Police Academy series. Kinda like covering up the Us magazine on your coffee table with Harpers when company comes over.
I smell a business plan!
I’d love it if Netflix let me seamlessly share films I’m rating in my Facebook feed, and even write a review that’s just for my friends on FB, not for the NF site. I’d be interested in seeing this from my movie-geeky group of friends, too. So, yeah, good idea.
Hm, I don’t know. I’d like to agree with you on this post–it seems ridiculous to me, too–but Facebook people seem to love sharing all sorts of things that I can’t imagine wanting to share. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a net victory for Netflix in the end. (Especially if it’s the sort of thing where, if you don’t want to do that hook-up, they don’t force it or otherwise over-encourage it.)
Now I can meet up and combine with my friends online and form duchies! What joy!