How Netflix Could Be So Much Cooler
brain has a quick post about the MT Netflix plugin, which sounded like a really good idea when I first started reading it. I agree though, it sounds like a hack, and not something I would want to deploy.
I’ve had lots of conversations with friends lately about some things Netflix could do which would be really cool and add a bit of a community-oriented aspect. While I like getting recommendations based on the rankings of the ginormous user population out there, I would love to be able to see recommendations from a specific set of people I know that I trust the opinion of. Also, I don’t think their ranking algorithm is anywhere near as good as Amazon’s.
Specifically, I would like the ability to have friends on Netflix click a button and broadcast the title of a movie they really enjoyed to me. Perhaps this could show up in an independent queue of suggestions which I could approve or reject and have them added to my rental queue. Also, I would like the ability to specifically open up my rental history and rankings to my friends, so that they could see what I liked and then they could pick and choose from amongst those movies.
The promise of an MT Netflix plugin is compelling as well, but until Netflix exposes a reasonable web service at getting at that information, it’s not going to happen. But wow, think of what you could do with a Netflix web service? GUI clients to manage and re-arrange your Queue. Automatic tools to re-order your queue if you’ve got multiple people in the house using the account, etc, etc, etc. Of course, the most creative ideas in web services usually come about some time after people publish them and some crazy on the Internet comes up with a brilliant idea which we never would have thought of.
Netflix, go for it!
