I just noticed that Netflix, in addition to the new Profiles feature unveiled earlier today, has officially launched the Friends List feature. In beta since early December, the Friends List feature lets you invite people to share reviews, ratings and recommendations.
Here's the what the new Friends List page looks like:
Update: Here's an e-mail I received this morning from Netflix, confirming the general release of Friends:
Dear Mike,Today we're excited to announce Netflix Friends. With Netflix Friends you can see what your friends are watching and share your favorite movies with them.
To get started:
Click on the Friends tab Create a list of friends who use Netflix Share movie suggestions and ratings with your friends Thank you for being a member of Netflix. We hope you enjoy sharing movie suggestions with your friends.
-Your Friends at Netflix
What do you think of the new features?
Just posted about this on my blog:
http://www.brianstorms.com/archives/000509.html
I propose Netflix Neighbors....
Posted by: Brian Dear | January 08, 2005 at 03:20 PM
I think it's an interesting idea to discuss and don't like to just poopoo things, but I wonder if this can't be done amongst good friends and coworkers already, leaving the service only between total strangers which is unlikely to be popular just to save a couple bucks.
You could theoretically go to starbucks and hand over your already viewed movies and tell the other person to just mail it back when done. Theft would be more problematic here, but might be made up for in recruiting new customers. The return envelope is already anonymous so that's a bonus.
Netflix could encourage this by putting a member ID prominently on the envelope. If someone signs up and mentions your ID as the referrer you could get a bonus (perhaps a free DVD or free month).
Oooh.. now I like that idea! ;)
Posted by: Aron | January 08, 2005 at 03:33 PM
To clear possible confusion, I was referring to Brian's idea in the previous msg, not the Netflix friends idea.
Posted by: Aron | January 08, 2005 at 03:36 PM
Perhaps a more significant way for Netflix to encourage the Starbucks idea is to allow people to indicate on the site that they have "spread the word" with a DVD and Netflix can mail you another. If you get an accumulation of unreturned movies then Netflix would shut down that option.
Posted by: Aron | January 08, 2005 at 03:39 PM
Instead of the Friends list, Netflix should call it the "Loser's List".
Who are these losers who have rated 3000 movies?
By the way, I've tried Blockbuster and am now a convert. Netflix's days are numbered.
Posted by: CashForFlow | January 08, 2005 at 04:03 PM
To: CashForFlow
From: CashForFlow
It seems there is a person so desperate to discredit a company they have taken to impersonating me. I'm honored.
In my opinion, Netflix is the better option due to current turnaround speeds. Blockbuster is a wait and see after the addition of these new DC’s.
Posted by: CashForFlow | January 09, 2005 at 01:06 PM
Someone is impersonating you? I wonder what the penalty is for impersonating a loser.
Posted by: one_killerbee | January 09, 2005 at 01:23 PM
I thought you'd be able to see your friends' rental queues through this new feature. Is it possible to do so, but I'm just completely missing it on the site?
Posted by: geo | January 09, 2005 at 01:57 PM
I like this feature so far. I would be interested to know what my own average rating of movies is. I guess I could ask one of my friends.
And, about people who rate a lot of movies, not-actually CashForFlow: I have rated about 1400 movies. I used to have an office job that I didn't like very much and found myself bored a lot. I had internet access, and sometimes would pass the time by rating movies on Netflix. Ended up being worth it: I get pretty good recommendations.
Posted by: C | January 09, 2005 at 11:49 PM
"I have rated about 1400 movies. I used to have an office job that I didn't like very much and found myself bored a lot. I had internet access, and sometimes would pass the time by rating movies on Netflix."
If you have time to rate 1400 movies at work, you've got problems. If you have time to rate 1400 movies at home, you've got problems. Hell, if you've SEEN 1400 movies and your name isn't Gene Siskel, you've got problems.
At 30 seconds a pop, you wasted almost 12 hours rating movies. What's the benefit of your 12 hours? Better movie recommendations? Get real. If you've seen 1400 movies, seeing another movie shouldn't be your biggest priority.
Posted by: CashForFlow | January 11, 2005 at 02:02 AM
why can you not see what is in the "friend's" Queue???
this is what i would like!!!
Posted by: greg | January 11, 2005 at 10:57 AM
Privacy, Greg. You only see what the other people want you to see, which are the movies they have rated.
I've rated around 1200 movies, and have no problem with people seeing those, but I don't want them looking at what I have in my awaiting release queue for many different reasons.
Posted by: J-Bird | January 11, 2005 at 12:16 PM
Hey CashForFlow, can you do us all a favor and stop belittling people for doing things they like?
It's nothing more than a sophomorish attempt at getting under people's skin and I for one don't appreciate all the badgering comments on this site. This statement isn't for you in particular, but for all the others as well on this site that have a strange desire to deride other users by blasting their posts.
Posted by: J-bird | January 11, 2005 at 12:52 PM
I haven't looked at the friend's feature yet, but I can't see why you wouldn't want to allow others to see your queue. It would be something you could turn off if you wanted privacy.
I can only think of one reason you would want your awaiting release queue private, and that is so you can get it before others. I think that a movie is in demand because it is a new release and high profile, not because a few friends saw it when going over your queue.
Posted by: REN | January 11, 2005 at 01:33 PM
if they are your "friends" then why not see their Queue?
Its kinda wierd. they have an RSS feed for the Queue which you can share to others. But no rss feed that is your rented movies. Now the friends is just the opposite. strange.
Posted by: greg | January 11, 2005 at 05:23 PM
Friends doesn't add value to a membership, beyond recommendations. And that's a dubious value.
A real market differentiator would be the ability to send DVDs to different addresses, and charge the member for the DVD purchase price if it isn't returned in 30 days.
That way, members could REALLY recommend movies to my "friends" by delivering a copy directly to their mailbox. And since members would be charged if the disc was kept, they'd only send to people they trusted.
Envelopes are anonymous. NF is already directing discs back to other shipping centers. The only possible obstacle would be if the member's address was linked to a lot of data in Netflix's system. Even then, reprogramming would be the only expense.
Posted by: Bryan | January 13, 2005 at 04:19 PM
hi1 i would love to be your friend.
fyi bout me:
Eyes:green
Color of hair:titian
Height:5"9
Achievements:
accelerated 3 times
grade school:valedictorian
High School :valedictorian
College:summa cum laude
i love pets
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Posted by: Angel34Merritt | May 15, 2010 at 11:47 PM