Netflix upgraded the Friends feature with several key improvements. Eric writes, "You can now edit/delete old reviews! You can add/delete movies more easily to your custom lists.
You can even upload your own photo, but with a stern Netflix warning:
Images must not contain any obscene or objectionable content, including copyrighted images or images of other people. Failure to abide by these standards may result in your membership cancellation and other legal responses. If the community flags your image or any of your text, nickname or content as objectionable, you will first be given the opportunity to replace or edit said content. If the community flags your contents subsequently, it will be automatically removed and Netflix Customer Service will follow up with appropriate action.It looks like the default icon for your account is related to one of the genres you like most. It thinks I'm a romance fan because of the recent movies my wife picked out, while my friend is an action/adventure fan."
Here are a few screen captures that highlight the changes:
Changes to the lists tab. Note the different images for each account.
The Profiles tab lets you change your Nickname, image, and set your privacy level.
To access the new features, click on the "Friends" tab, and then click on the purple tab on the right side.
Thanks to Larry, Alan, & Eric (screen captures) for sending this in.
I'm pretty confused about the default icon they give you. I've got some kind of scary-looking vampire/undead creature, but I hate horror movies and never request them, so I'm not sure what that's all about. Either they've got me pegged all wrong, or it's just a random assignment.
Posted by: snowmaiden | May 30, 2007 at 08:06 AM
Nice...very nice. It's about time NF did something like this to make it more interesting.
Posted by: prozac | May 30, 2007 at 09:34 AM
Good first step. Now they just need to reinstate a few of the old features that were useful.
Average ratings for you and each of your Friends.
Loved by your Friends and Recommended for you suggestions.
An Overview page for each Friend, not just ratings or queue.
Posted by: priv8pete | May 30, 2007 at 10:03 AM
It seems as though NetFlix is actually going to try to have a legitimate community. Before they had reviews and lists but there was little to really tie everything together and bind it to a personality. I like that I can now see how "alike" a reviewer is to me, and then I can go to their profile and see what their favorite movies are.
I don't know what my default picture was because I read the first two lines of this and went and changed my info. Oops.
Posted by: danb | May 30, 2007 at 10:15 AM
I like these changes a lot, especially the option to change or delete old reviews. I also got Nosferatu as an avatar but I uploaded a picture of my ugly mug instead.
Posted by: hawk5391 | May 30, 2007 at 11:08 AM
The avatars most be random. Mine is Nosferatu but I haven't rented a horror movie in awhile. A friend's is Homer and Marge but he has never rented any "Simpsons" episodes, another is Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's" but he only rents recent movies ...
Posted by: kcholt68 | May 30, 2007 at 12:13 PM
You can edit/delete your public reviews, but you STILL can't edit/delete the notes that you leave for friends. Ridiculous. They still haven't improved the Friends feature much, and it still pales in comparison to how great the friends feature used to be years ago.
Posted by: scotty321 | May 30, 2007 at 12:15 PM
Looks like I was part of the test group for this a few weeks ago. I haven't tried to edit a review yet, that function will be interesting. Overall, I think it will improve out experience at the site, but it will increase load times and decrease the number of reviews per page. Since most people will only look at the first page anyway, until NF does something about fanbois voting for themselves hundreds of times, the review system will remain useless for the vast number of customers. It's silly, most other places only allow you to vote once (unless they need page hits for advertising revenue), why doesn't NF adopt this policy?
Posted by: eviltimes | May 30, 2007 at 02:31 PM
I'm having real problems with the new reviews. I've noticed some of mine are missing and when I page through "All Members reviews" some pages only have one while other pages have 8 and others have 2 or 3. I think the default avatars are really strange in a bad way as well. I also noticed it was real slow today, although that may be temporary.
Posted by: jimofoz | May 30, 2007 at 04:38 PM
List bugs.
I can't change the order once list is created. Should be able to add to a list from browsing areas not just friends section.
Posted by: Firstlawofnature | May 30, 2007 at 05:30 PM
Now they have crashed it's 6:20 PM on the East Coast.
Posted by: eviltimes | May 30, 2007 at 06:25 PM
A few suggestions or observations about the new features:
I would like the option to choose from a selection of avatars. After uploading my picture I can't even figure out a way to get back to the avatar!
I would like to be able to edit or delete "notes" and not just reviews.
If I want to edit or delete a review that is not on the first page of my reviews, I am right now unable to do so, and I think that should be changed.
As a side note, I was browsing my queue, and I noticed one movie that had a link to "update status." I clicked it and was taken to a page that indicated that Netflix no longer had enough copies of the movie to meet customers' needs, but the movie was scheduled to be re-released on DVD within the next 12 months. The movie (Hard Boiled by John Woo) was then placed in the Saved portion of my queue. I have never seen this link before -- in the past, Netflix just automatically moved titles to the Saved section without informing me. Is this new too?
Posted by: hawk5391 | May 30, 2007 at 07:22 PM
Tonight, I noticed that I can now DRAG & DROP in my Netflix Queue. Pretty cool.
Posted by: Scribe1964 | May 31, 2007 at 10:32 PM
"I noticed that I can now DRAG & DROP in my Netflix Queue"
They must have hired someone from BBO.
Posted by: Edward R Murrow | June 01, 2007 at 06:10 PM
I like how you can see people's recommendations. Also, I like being able to see their reviews (I had had no idea that my partner had actually reviewed movies, which was an interesting discovery).
I did notice that I can no longer see "Ratings from All Friends" in the Spotlight page. I am disappointed that there's no longer a way to get group ratings.
Posted by: RB in San Jose, CA | June 02, 2007 at 10:25 AM
"They must have hired someone from BBO."
...to work as a mail-room intern.
Posted by: | June 02, 2007 at 12:36 PM
"...to work as a mail-room intern."
Nope, to do the drag and drop since BBO has had drag and drop for a very long time.
Posted by: Edward R Murrow | June 02, 2007 at 09:41 PM
no... pretty sure it was the mail-room intern position eddy; your girlfriend Icahn kicked them to the curb for too much blatant copying of the Netflix website.
Posted by: | June 03, 2007 at 12:04 AM
Clearly, the blatant copying in this case was Netflix copying the drag and drop that BBO has had for months now. By the way, say howdy to your wife for me. The only way I could possibly recognize her is with her clothes off and on all fours.
Posted by: Edward R Murrow | June 03, 2007 at 12:55 AM
come on, don't get all huffy like a girlie man just because you can't win an argument fast eddy; its just a bunch of DVDs fer crissake. Don't be like a cocks***er from blockbuster.
Posted by: | June 03, 2007 at 10:24 AM
It once took Netflix 8 weeks to remove a review of mine, so this new system is a huge improvement, even though you can only edit or delete the last 5 reviews posted. Maybe with enough 'encouragement' from us they'll make ALL our reviews accessible for updates and corrections? And yes, the 'helpful/unhelpful' buttons should obviously only be usable once per person per review, and disabled for our own reviews. As for those hideous and inane cartoon avatars, why not have an 'add photo' option on the profile page for people who want to personalize their reviews, but just have the our name - as before - for those of us that don't? Sure, you can change the assigned image, but most downloaded pix to date seem to be protest votes - including mine - and are thus equally annoying!
Posted by: harry | June 11, 2007 at 01:27 PM
What happened to the 'releasing this week'? How about a adding a section 'in theaters now'?
Posted by: Kelly Van Rijn | June 16, 2008 at 11:54 PM
this is so cool to use. I just love netflix.
watch friends online
Posted by: watch friends online | March 17, 2009 at 10:21 PM
I've tried putting a photo in Netflix but it doesn't let me. It says "upload failed." Any ideas how to upload a jpeg?
Posted by: Will | September 09, 2009 at 08:32 AM
I also have this problem Will. I've tried putting up a photo in netflix through internet explorer and firefox and everytime it says 'upload failed'. I hate the photo they assigned. I tried jpq, bmp, png..nothing works...Anyone have any suggestions?
Posted by: Mike | September 23, 2009 at 03:40 PM
I have been trying to change my profile image for a week. I have a picture of me that I use on all my social networking sites. But NetFlix gives me the same error message saying the upload failed. I have tried using a jpg, a gif and a bmp. They are 150px x 150px. But the system just will not accept the image.
Posted by: RockStar Will | December 08, 2009 at 07:43 AM