Netflix Adds Facebook Integration

Building on momentum that’s already driven Blockbuster Inc. into a deal with TiVo Inc. and seen Warner Bros. introduce a made-to-order DVD service, the world’s largest online movie rental company this week announced that it’s integrating with a 175-million user social networking site.

 

Officials at Netflix, Inc. say their integration with Facebook (News - Alert) Connect – reviewed here by TMCnet – means members will have easy access to their Facebook accounts from the Netflix site.

 

The integration makes snese, according to Gibson Biddle, vice president of product management for Netflix, because “movies make for great conversations.

 

“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,” Biddle said.

 

Pictured below, here’s how the integration works: 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.

 

Since friends can make comments in response to ratings posts, the new feature encourages an enriched movie-watching experience, Netflix officials say, as well as 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.

 

It’s been a very good year for Netflix, despite the down economy.

 

Subscribership grew 26 percent year-over-year from the fourth quarter of 2007 to 2008, officials there say, and the company crossed the milestone threshold of more than 10 million subscribers a little more than one month ago, adding more than 600,000 net subscribers in the first few weeks of 2009.

 

Facebook has been making big headlines the past few weeks, as the site has been targeting integration with the world’s largest maker of cell phones, adding real-time, Twitter-like functionality and debuting on TMCnet.

 

To link their Netflix and Facebook accounts, Netflix members will use the “Connect” button on the Netflix member site here. Then they’ll have the option of pushing all future movie ratings a Facebook profile or to be presented with the option of publishing ratings to Facebook on a case-by-case basis.

 

According to Ethan Beard, director of platform marketing at Facebook, Netflix is a leader in bringing innovation to renting, viewing and engaging around movies.

 

“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,” Beard said.