The NY Times reports that Facebook has been in talks with Netflix about making the service more social, making it seem less likely that Facebook would compete directly with Netflix. We first saw signs of this integration in March when an early test of the integration was discovered.
Facebook has long worked to spread its tentacles across the Web, and to persuade media companies to use its data about connections between people to make their services more “social.” In France, Mr. Zuckerberg mentioned Netflix as one of the companies that had been in talks with Facebook.
Several music services, like Spotify and Pandora, already allow users to log in with their Facebook credentials, and they personalize their sites for users based on the activities of their friends. But Facebook wants to make it easier for users to tap into those activities on its site.
According to the people involved in the negotiations, Facebook’s various media partners would each have a part in a continuous feed displaying the songs a user is listening to or the video a user is watching. Friends could then gain access to the same content with a click. By using outside partners, Facebook itself would not license any content from record companies or television networks.
Would you want to share the movie or TV show your'e watching on Facebook?
I talk with 6-8 of my Facebook friends about movies all of the time. This would be great if it works better than the last connection between the two.
Posted by: Jon Seals | May 29, 2011 at 11:55 AM
I'm still not sure what was wrong with the old Facebook Connect. It showed the movie I watched, my rating, and a short blurb (if I wanted to type one). Why not just expand that, why destroy it and start all over again? Even if they're working on something new, why not leave the old one in place until it's ready?
Posted by: Kushambaka | May 29, 2011 at 12:56 PM
Why did they kill their existing Friends feature. I really miss being able to see my buddies' queues and ratings. I don't want Facebook integration. I don't care what most people think. I just want to see ratings and queues of my 3-4 movie buddies who's opinions I actually respect.
Posted by: MiggityMikeB | May 29, 2011 at 01:45 PM
If I want to share a movie title and my reaction on FB, I can do that all by myself. And there are some movies I watch that I do not want people to know I am watching (Like Smokey and the Bandit III) because I want them to think I have standards and good taste.
Posted by: Matt Jaroneski | May 29, 2011 at 03:59 PM
Netflix is just hopelessly inept at social networking features. They killed Friends and Profiles for the stated reason that not enough customers used the features. But how many people do they think are going to use Facebook integration? Not many more than they already had.
If Netflix only wants to keep features that are used by the majority of customers then I'm afraid this all seems rather pointless. The reality is that most people just want to watch their movies.
Posted by: SPLG | May 29, 2011 at 06:23 PM
Bring back the old Friends features!! :(
Posted by: M | May 29, 2011 at 09:55 PM
I notice that the old "xx% similar to you" lines have returned to the review pages in the last week or so (but only sometimes). It looks like NF may be playing with the interface again, and some sort of networking features may be in the cards. I miss the ability to see my friends' queues and preferences.
Posted by: Jawbone | May 30, 2011 at 06:24 AM
I don't want Facebook links. I do want subtitles and maybe an equalizer
Posted by: AuntWie | May 31, 2011 at 04:50 PM
Ugh! I am so sick of every website in the world having a FB connection. Enough already.
Posted by: Tim | May 31, 2011 at 05:16 PM
I really liked both the old Friends feature and the old Facebook integration feature. Alas, at the time neither apparently merited much by way of maintenance and ongoing support, so they got crufty. I know, for example, the facebook integration app was working intermittently and at some point it can, actually, make sense to slash and burn rather than rehabilitate.
Like it or not (I have mixed feelings on this, not least of which because I've got a family member at Facebook), Facebook is becoming the Lingua Franca of social connections on the internet; I do like the idea of using that platform rather than trying to maintain multiple independent friend lists.
Posted by: Royrapoport | May 31, 2011 at 06:36 PM
tweet: Matt Jaroneski is watching Smokey and the Bandit III
heh heh.
Posted by: me.yahoo.com/a/PQxFSsE0itt4Wuoe2fcIw7UVLJw- | May 31, 2011 at 09:30 PM
Would you want to share the movie or TV show you're watching on Facebook?
No Way. I'll stick with the private, invite only, Netflix discussion social group I participate in.
Posted by: CJ | June 01, 2011 at 12:52 AM
No way in hell do I want to share anything more with Mark Zuckerberg and Co. I'll skip the friends feature on Netflix if it involves Facefarce. Infact, if Netflix does get into bed with Facefarce for a friends feature, it would easily be the worst move of the company ~ ever.
Posted by: Chrisbreseman29 | June 01, 2011 at 03:07 PM