Update: This was the big news from the investor call.
I was invited to join the Netflix "Friends List" last night and it's an extremely well thought-out way to share your love of movies with friends. It's also very viral -- you can even invite people that don't belong to Netflix to join.
Here's the invitation e-mail I received (I was asked to hide the name of the person that invited me):
This is the Friends List tab and page. Note the purple color on the tab, review stars, and the little purple person on movies a friend has seen:
This is the top of my queue. They put the little purple person next to movies your friends have seen:
I haven't had time to play with all of the features, but I like what I've seen so far. I have friends that I'd like to share movies and reviews with, and I can't wait to spend some time with it.
You view the friends page online at: http://www.netflix.com/FriendsLearnMore?.
Congrats on getting in and getting the scoop. Hope to get a chance to play with it myself soon.
Posted by: Tony Gentile | December 02, 2004 at 01:50 PM
I can't get it to work, nor can another guy here. The invite page is empty. Is it a beta that only works for some people or what?
Posted by: Steven Hoober | December 02, 2004 at 01:51 PM
Sounds great. Now I just have to get some friends who have Netflix.
Posted by: Bombadil | December 02, 2004 at 01:54 PM
Steven,
You have to be invited, so I just invited you.
If anyone else wants an invite, just let me know. I'll try and respond to anyone that's interested tonight.
Please be patient as I have a day job. ;-)
- Mike
Posted by: Mike | December 02, 2004 at 02:03 PM
Yeah, invite me Mike! :)
Posted by: lawilson | December 02, 2004 at 02:25 PM
I would appreciate an invite as well. Thanks!
[email protected]
Posted by: Hoon Park | December 02, 2004 at 02:28 PM
I would very much appreciate an invite.
Thanks.
smashsc (at) gmail (dot) com
Posted by: smash | December 02, 2004 at 02:41 PM
I'd love to try out this new 'Friends' feature:
brianvance+Netflix (at) mailcan (dot) com
Posted by: Beev | December 02, 2004 at 03:02 PM
Please invite me as well.
Thanks!
Posted by: Mel | December 02, 2004 at 03:03 PM
Can someone invite me? This looks like a pretty cool feature, but I dont have any friends that have Netflix here....
Posted by: Dan | December 02, 2004 at 03:06 PM
Thanks for the invite!!
Posted by: Becky | December 02, 2004 at 03:10 PM
Who's your buddy? Who's your pal? :)
Posted by: Tony Gentile | December 02, 2004 at 03:15 PM
Thanks Mike!
Posted by: Melanie Rutberg | December 02, 2004 at 03:38 PM
I enjoy your site. Thanks for the info one and all. Please send me a netflix invite as well.
werbler(at)gmail
Thanks!
Posted by: Kathryn | December 02, 2004 at 03:40 PM
Could someone please invite me? My friend and I (who both use netflix) would really like to share queues. It sounds like that is what this feature does.
Thanks
Posted by: Dave | December 02, 2004 at 03:42 PM
Freaky quick...thanks Mike
Posted by: Dave | December 02, 2004 at 03:47 PM
I would love an invite: emailforron (at) comcast (dot) net. Thanks for the great news!
Posted by: Ron | December 02, 2004 at 04:34 PM
Some invite love to netflix (at) csbgroup [dot] org would be awesome.
Posted by: Matt M. | December 02, 2004 at 04:41 PM
sounds like a great idea to me would love to check it out more [email protected]
Posted by: D Bates | December 02, 2004 at 06:23 PM
Just looking at it now. I imagine there was some debate about using purple. Next feature request, customizable skins ;)
I feel like I'm in a skittles commercial.
Posted by: Aron | December 02, 2004 at 06:31 PM
I would also love to start inviting friends. If someone could invite me as well that would be great. Thank you. [email protected]
Posted by: Brian | December 02, 2004 at 06:46 PM
i've been waiting for this since I got my in-laws to sign-up for Netflix. Really only needed to be a "suggest movie to a friend" feature, but they went further.
So if someone could invite me, that would be great. ... .joe
Posted by: joe | December 02, 2004 at 07:09 PM
I like the 2-cent feature. I would benefit from a mechanism for quickly running down my current list of rated films and entering these. It is a much more appealing way of commenting on the films then reviews were (I've already outpaced my total review count). I'm not sure whether the appeal is more the small limit (allowing basically a movie haiku), or knowing that friends will see it. Probably the latter.
With a friends network supporting it, I think they should take the plunge and jump into full support of services surrounding upcoming and at theatre films. While only tangentially related to renting films, it builds the total customer value equation of Netflix tremendously and helps to position them as a full-service movie outlet (used purchase/trade-in would also be nice). As friends see films in the theatre they provide their opinions as a pre-screening. I think such a section would also garner its own "In Theaters"(ok, use American sp) tab. We've already seen the beginnings of customer monetization w.r.t to new films (see: envelopes). Most free-for-all movie sites have a muddle of anarchy in their user comments that is solved by the friends network. New releases are more likely, IMO, to have that critical mass of interest that keeps the social networking functions thriving.
Good job Netflix. I hope the price war is not putting stress on these types of innovations. This is where the $$ belongs. People will pay the extra couple bucks a year for it. There's been too much focus on cost-cutting and simplification, you drive yourself into commoditization and erase your first mover advantage that way.
Fix the skittles issue though ;)
Posted by: Aron | December 02, 2004 at 08:31 PM
looks like it's just going to a select group of people for beta testing right now. drat the luck. here's the FAQ:
"...We’re letting a handful of customers give the Netflix Friends feature a try before everyone else..."
http://www.netflix.com/FAQ?p_faqid=502
Posted by: jesse.p | December 02, 2004 at 09:54 PM
I'd love an invite. Thanks for the scoop!
Posted by: Matt | December 02, 2004 at 10:09 PM
me too! churchrat74 at yahoo dot com.
Posted by: | December 02, 2004 at 10:29 PM
I'd like an invite
bartsmith @ nc.rr.com
Posted by: Bart | December 02, 2004 at 10:43 PM
Definitely like being the first on my block for new features!
Please email an invite to me at [email protected]
I'll tell 2 friends, and so on, and so on...
Posted by: Berto | December 02, 2004 at 10:47 PM
i'd like an invite! :)
justinglow at gmail.com
Posted by: justin | December 02, 2004 at 11:35 PM
me too? bloobot (at) yahoo (dot) com
Posted by: blubot | December 03, 2004 at 02:38 AM
P.S.
this is so cool!
i want it !!!
good job netflix developers!
http://www.netflix.com/FriendsLearnMore
Posted by: blubot | December 03, 2004 at 02:57 AM
please invite me, any of yall if you want more friends!
[email protected]
Posted by: Henry | December 03, 2004 at 09:34 AM
Another invite request, please. Once the site comes back up.
msmith [hyphen] netflixx [at] init0 [dot] org
Posted by: Mike | December 03, 2004 at 02:33 PM
Is it possible to selectively hide movies from your friends? Not sure I want everyone to know I rented "Fatal Passion 3."
Um... oops.
Posted by: misuba | December 03, 2004 at 03:09 PM
I'd love an invite, if you'd be so kind.
rebecca (at) alltheprettywords (dot) com
Posted by: Rebecca | December 03, 2004 at 03:52 PM
I'd also love an invite, if possible. Thanks.
castaldo (at) olywa (dot) net
Posted by: Pat Castaldo | December 03, 2004 at 05:12 PM
I'd like an invite too, please.
tvindy[AT]gmail.com
Posted by: Tvindy | December 04, 2004 at 02:31 AM
Please Sir, may I have an invite?
Invite [at] ThunderBunny [dot] org
Thank you
Posted by: Dave | December 04, 2004 at 11:02 AM
Hi. I would be interested in an invite - my E-mail is [email protected]
Posted by: Kandis Crichlow | December 04, 2004 at 11:33 AM
Hey, if I could get an invite too, that'd be great!
[email protected]
Posted by: David Toews | December 04, 2004 at 01:29 PM