Netflix goes social, integrates with Facebook Connect

MOVING TO BROADEN ITS ACCESSIBILITY, NETFLIX INTREGRATES WITH FACEBOOK CONNECT,
ENABLING MEMBERS TO SHARE MORE WITH FRIENDS
LOS GATOS, Calif., March 24, 2009 – As part of its plan to make Netflix features more broadly accessible to members and their friends, Netflix, Inc. (Nasdaq: NFLX), the world's largest online movie rental service, today announced its integration with Facebook Connect, which seamlessly links a Netflix member's account with his or her Facebook account. Facebook Connect will extend members' movie ratings from the Netflix community to Facebook. Netflix members decide if they want to use Facebook Connect and can turn it on or off at any time.
Each time a Netflix member rates a movie, that one- to five-star rating will be posted on his or her Facebook profile and shared with the member's friends if the Netflix member has enabled Facebook Connect. Because friends can make comments in response to ratings posts, this new feature encourages an enriched movie-watching experience, enhanced by interaction and conversation among friends. Movie rating posts on Facebook will also link back to the correlating movie page at Netflix, enabling Facebook users to learn more about a specific movie and allowing Netflix members to easily add the movie to their own Queues.
"Movies make for great conversations," said Gibson Biddle, vice president of product management for Netflix. "By integrating with Facebook Connect, Netflix members can now share their movie-watching experiences even more easily than before, allowing for greater exchange of movie recommendations with their friends."
"Netflix is a clear leader in bringing innovation to renting, viewing and engaging around movies," said Ethan Beard, director of platform marketing, Facebook. "We think the social features in Facebook Connect provide a tremendous opportunity for Netflix subscribers to share their thoughts and feelings on movies with their friends in the Netflix community and with Facebook's more than 175 million active users."
To link their Netflix and Facebook accounts, Netflix members will use the "Connect" button on the Netflix member site at http://www.netflix.com/facebookconnect. Upon first connecting, each member will have the option of pushing all future movie ratings to his or her Facebook profile or to be presented with the option of publishing ratings to Facebook on a case-by-case basis.
Netflix anticipates the integration of additional features through Facebook Connect and encourages user feedback through the Netflix Facebook page www.facebook.com/netflix or on Twitter www.twitter.com/netflix





















Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Alex @ Mar 23rd 2009 11:48PM
Hmm... doesn't work yet. Any ETA?
Darren @ Mar 24th 2009 1:07AM
Should be now, though we'd expect some lag on day one before it goes live.
Nick Catalano @ Mar 24th 2009 4:00AM
Nope, http://www.netflix.com/facebookconnect is still a 404 page as of 3/24 2:52 AM CST
BUT!
http://www.netflix.com/FacebookConnect works
Entire business is based on the internet and the press office doesn't understand that capitalization in URLs matter. Ouch :)
Nick Catalano @ Mar 24th 2009 4:10AM
Oh, and just a FYI for everyone, the screenshot on netflix.com is not accurate. By default it publishes a synopsis of the movie you rated on netflix.com instead of a advertised one-line 'rated (moviename) x out of 5 stars.' You have to actually change the options in facebook so that it does the one line post. Thankfully I didn't rate a bunch of movies before noticing that.
Addyct @ Mar 24th 2009 4:56AM
Where would one find this setting? All I can find in facebook is the option to turn the updates on or off completely
Nick Catalano @ Mar 24th 2009 6:41AM
http://www.facebook.com/editapps.php?v=wall
dagamer34 @ Mar 24th 2009 2:17AM
The EMPIRE grow stronger each and every day....
Addyct @ Mar 24th 2009 2:26AM
still not working for me, just getting a 404 error when i try to hit that URL. anyone have a link to the page they used?
jstfinkaboutit @ Mar 24th 2009 9:16AM
http://www.netflix.com/FacebookConnect?lnkctr=fb_acc