Dear Netflix: You're doing it wrong

http://www.lylemckeany.com/2012/09/30/dear-netflix-youre-doing-it-wrong/

by lylemckeany • 14 years ago

28 40 14 years ago

jtoeman• 14 years ago

good post here - for anyone who agreed with Lyle and wants to try out my startup's app which does the social sharing "right" (or so we think), try out NextGuide (iPad only right now)

mzuvella• 14 years ago

Hmmm, yeah you can opt out, just like every other Facebook integration.

kurtvarner• 14 years ago

Off topic, but wow. Wordpress Svbtle? It's actually executed on quite well. I was fooled before noticing the subtle (no pun intended) difference in the Kudos icon shape. I do like the addition of comments, although it doesn't mesh well with the design.

That said, I'm not a big fan of stealing someone's design pixel for pixel. It definitely hurts the Svbtle brand when people mistake WP-Svbtle for Svbtle itself. I wonder what Dustin Curtis thinks.

Smudge3• 14 years ago

I was fooled too until I saw the horribly-positioned Disqus section. (Seriously, all it needs is a "padding" rule.)

I may not be much of a Svbtle fan, but I'm also not a fan of ripping-off a brand's design just because you can.

lylemckeany5• 14 years ago

I'm not completely sold on the comment section even being on my blog at this point. Comments don't always create the valuable and lively discussion that I would like. I'll try out your padding rule idea later though. Thanks for the feedback.

As far as the wp-svbtle theme goes, I like it for the simplicity. I won't deny that it's a complete rip-off of Dustin's Svbtle. I pointed it out to him on Twitter once and he only favorited my tweet. Maybe he will try to do something about it at a later time, who knows.

donretag• 14 years ago

So people now rant about features that do not even exist yet? Seriously?

It is probably easier for Netflix to ask for authorization for all sharing and then actually have users select what they want to share. No one knows until they build it.

lylemckeany5• 14 years ago

I wouldn't say my post was supposed to be a rant, but a critique of their approach to social media marketing instead. Seems to me that it would be relatively easy to add social sharing buttons and it would pretty much instantly increase their viral reach and subsequently grow their subscriptions.

halefx• 14 years ago

This is actually a feature that used to exist before Netflix took it away, and now they're lobbying to implement a worse version of it.

sdm• 14 years ago

This is an existing feature. You watch a tv show or movie, it shares it on your FB page. It's very annoying to have what I'm watching shared, but I must admit I like how Netflix shows you what your FB friends are watching.

Edit: Turns out this feature isn't on the American version of Netflix...

Smudge3• 14 years ago

Took me until I saw the Disqus comments at the bottom to realize this blog was not on svbtle.com. The theme is here:

http://github.com/gravityonmars/wp-svbtle

From the github readme:

> Isn't this unoriginal?

> Yes, in the same way svbtle is unoriginal. See the original "inspiration" for svbtle. (link: http://drawar.com/)

At that, I raise an eyebrow. Yes, dcurtis' svbtle does look like it may have been inspired by drawar, or any other blog theme with a persistent left-hand column. It's certainly not nearly as original as it is simply well-executed.

But wp-svbtle copied the style & spacing of svbtle down to just about the pixel-level. Legal or not, it's pretty blatantly ripping-off the brand dcurtis is trying to establish, and that leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

lelandbatey• 14 years ago

Indeed, the wordpress theme's author is not operating in the way he alludes to in that quote. Svbtle is actually inspired by the design of Drawar; it is easy to see the root ideas, but it's also plain to see the changes and evolution of Svbtle that make it distinct from Drawar.

Contrast this with the WP theme and an actual Svtle blog:

Svbtle: http://dcurt.is/

Svbtle WP: http://www.lylemckeany.com/

If you alt-tab between the two, most of the page is exactly the same. The Svbtle-WP theme is not "inspired" by Svbtle, it is a direct copy.

mark_story• 14 years ago

It still looks like an inferior clone. The typefaces are all wrong, the kudos button has a wonky shape. Its differences are just enough to hit the uncanny valley for me.

da_n• 14 years ago

I have never really taken to the whole 'exclusive' Svbtle invite-only blogging platform bullshit, but I do agree it is a pixel for pixel copy and so does degrade the brand. No matter what my personal opinion of Svbtle is, copying (and open sourcing the results) is not justified.

ImprovedSilence• 14 years ago

meh, I think it's just a simple style. Yeah, so it's imitating some other blog network, but really, I didn't even know Svbtle was a thing until a minute ago. It's not exactly a super well recognized brand outside some small SF circles...

Timothee• 14 years ago

Beyond the problem with stealing pixel for pixel, to me, it's sad: Svbtle does have a distinct look that implicitly indicates you're part of the network. Using a copy in turns implies that you would like to be part of the network, but you can't because you're not friends with Dustin Curtis/don't have enough clout.

Because if you're really just interested in a clean blog design, it's really not that hard to make your own.

(I say that as someone who doesn't really like the Svbtle "elitism", though I give Dustin Curtis credit for picking great writers in general)

hayksaakian• 14 years ago

At least they're trying. If Facebook sharing is such a legal clusterfuck pushing more services through the gate at once won't help. I'm sure that if they can get their foot in the door, they'll do everything that the OP described.

macchina2• 14 years ago

Apparently Netflix has implemented this feature outside the US.

Also, it appears the law currently prevents Netflix from integrating the Facebook button as it requires "informed written consent of the consumer given at the time the disclosure is sought."

The bill would change this to "informed, written consent (including through an electronic means using the Internet) in a form distinct and separate from any form setting forth other legal or financial obligations of the consumer given at one or both of the following times; (i) the time the disclosure is sought; and (ii) in advance for a set period of time or until consent is withdrawn by such consumer."

I think people ought to be able to make these choices for themselves. I realize some people will forget to disable the feature, enable it inadvertently, not understand it, etc. But how is this fundamentally different from Spotify or Last.fm integration?

lylemckeany5• 14 years ago

It sounds like the only reason Netflix isn't allowed to do FB integration is simply because it involves movies.

macchina2• 14 years ago

Indeed. The law is pretty arbitrary and outdated in my view. The sole (or at least primary) reason we have it is that Robert Bork's video rental history was leaked during his Supreme Court nomination in the 1980s.

law• 14 years ago

That's exactly the reason. It's from the Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988 (VPPA), which ``preserve[s] personal privacy with respect to the rental, purchase, or delivery of video tapes or similar audio visual materials.''[1] It prohibits video tape service providers from knowingly disclosing their consumers' personally identifiable information.

[1] Pub. L. 100-618, 120 Stat. 3195 (1988) (codified at 18 U.S.C. §2710 (2006)).

leecGoimik72• 14 years ago

Dear author of the blog post: you are wrong. Watching is a deeply personal experience and sharing it is the last thing I think about when I go to Netflix. And most people on Facebook/whatever social network are not really your friends. And there is no shortage of ways to communicate with _real_ friends should I want to discuss a movie with them. So let Netflix focus on their core functionality instead of this social nonsense.

FaceKicker• 14 years ago

I'm not sure you read past the first paragraph ... the author is on your side; Netflix isn't.

leecGoimik72• 14 years ago

I admit it was a bit difficult to focus after first paragraph which I interpreted as the premise of the whole post and which I consider to be wrong. I read again. No, author is not really on my side: he just says Netflix needs to take a different approach. I say they need "no approach": focus on making content available, more of it and in more ways, on more devices and platforms. At least that's what I pay them for, not for sharing options.

jrajav• 14 years ago

Follows link, sees WP-SVBTLE theme

Uh-oh. Ten bucks says half the comments are about the theme and everyone's opinions of it, the blogger, and svbtle.

Comments

Yessss.

RollAHardSix• 14 years ago

This is a good post. Netflix will just become annoying if it posts on my facebook all the time. Not that I'd let them post on my facebook but yea, another discussion.

Cough Netflix you also need to work on navigation of xbox live with JUST voice commands. I use the Kinect over a controller for a reason - it's faster. But I'd like to be able to read the description of something before I watch it, I'd also enjoy having the option of turning preview play off; it turns on and my Kinect can't hear me!

TechNewb4• 14 years ago

Netflix should build their own social network, for the heck of it. I like having different social networks for the various public spheres I participate in, instead of trying to manage 'one social network' for all of the public spheres I interact in.

jrwoodruff• 14 years ago

Personally I would rather share my movie watching habits with a few close friends (who are Netflix subscribers) than the 300+ acquaintances I have on Facebook. I want to explore movies based on trusted sources, not share with the world that I just watched season 3 episode 4 of Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders.

jeffool• 14 years ago

I can't imagine it would be too hard to have a browser plug-in that asked you to rate video after a viewing, and if you wanted to push your rating to social networks. Pushing yes could prompt "Jeffool just gave 5 stars to <film>" with a link to the video on Netflix.com, and no (or not connecting social media) could just skip that step. Then it pops up suggestions or the next film in your playlist, and you keep going.

/edit: Moreso, if everyone has a free Netflix account to rate films, then they're already used to your site when you push for sign-ups.

spindritf• 14 years ago

> Netflix should build their own social network, for the heck of it.

Not just for the heck of it, it makes sense, they're in a perfect position to build last.fm for movies/tv. They could even run an open video scrobbler and lure in pirates little by little.

TechNewb4• 14 years ago

Totally agree. When I say the 'heck of it' I mean it from the corporations perspective. As it is a huge cost with minimal initial payoff. But film buffs are a great niche market to build a social network off of, and would create a stickiness to the Netflix platform, so we wouldn't see another great leave from Netflix most likely. Ping was a failed idea from the beginning, because it was obvious to the end user that the only reason of its existence was to immediately boost profits. If Apple treated Ping like they do their packaging, with a strong focus on end user experience, Facebook would have been scared.

lylemckeany5• 14 years ago

Oooo, that does sound like a good idea. Definitely not a quick way to grow their customer base, but could payoff in a large way if done correctly. Meh, Netflix would probably screw it up under the existing management.

Ogre2• 14 years ago

Didn't they do this already, once upon a time? I know that in the pre-streaming disc only era, I used to have "friends" on Netflix and could send and read reviews of movies, and get recommendations based on what my friends had watched. I had a few real life friends added and a larger set from an online forum I used to be a regular on.

I honestly don't know if that even still exists, and netflix.com seems to be giving me errors tonight so I can't check. Now that TVs and game consoles can get there and I no longer have a disc plan at all, I rarely visit the site in a browser. The various set-top-box clients I've used don't expose that functionality at all, so it may be gone or relegated solely to the browser, which at this point feels like the backwater of the Netflix experience.

TechNewb4• 14 years ago

True. I don't know why they have moved backwards in user experience. The best way to find out about films is from user generated lists, not algorithms. The best way to experience a film is a rich discussion after about the artistic or political meanings. These types of interactions don't work on Facebook unless you want to be labeled by your co-workers as a French film loving weirdo. If you love Bladerunner, what other movies would you recommend? Netflix's algorithm is not great when it comes to recommendations, they just recommend camp. Bladerunner is anything but camp.

Edit: Would be great to have the social media element be integrated into the TV and console apps. I to love these apps, and would love to find and follow other similar users and friends on the Netflix network.

nancyhua• 14 years ago

Netflix did have a social network a few years ago. You could friend people and talk about movies, etc. When it disappeared, I saw people complaining about it but I assumed it was because Netflix was going to integrate Facebook or something.

naner• 14 years ago

All Netflix needs to do is incorporate the ubiquitous social sharing buttons

No! More social buttons is never the answer.

lylemckeany5• 14 years ago

Update regarding the Svbtle theme.

I sent a tweet (https://twitter.com/lylemckeany/status/253688832501874689) to Dustin early asking about it. He kindly asked me to change my theme and I will in the next couple of days when I can get around to it. I thought/hoped that the Gravity on Mars developer(s) had his permission to create it, but that is definitely not the case.

kevhsu• 14 years ago

A social feature they could adopt from G+ hangouts:

You can watch youtube videos while doing group video chat. Anyone on the chat can pause, push a button to speak over the audio, etc. It' great for sharing videos with people and having the "sitting next to you on the couch" feel simulated.

For example, I could see myself using a Netflix version of this feature to watch a few episodes of a TV show each week with someone if we'd started watching the series in college while rooming together, but went our separate ways without finishing the series.

Dear Netflix: You're doing it wrong

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