Video rental service Netflix has launched a way for Netflix subscribers to share their movie ratings via their Facebook pages via integration with Facebook Connect. The new offering effectively associates a Netflix’s subscriber’s account with a Facebook account, and enables NetFlix ratings to appear on the users’ Facebook page. Once there, friends can comment on a user’s ratings and engage in (we’re sure!) very erudite and incisive discussions on the nature of film and the comparative culture worth of cinematic offerings. Of course, movie ratings posts also link back to to a movie page at Netflix so Facebook pals can conveniently learn more about the movie…and be hit up to subscribe to Netflix.
To set up the service, folks who use both Netflix and Facebook can use the “Connect” button on the NetFlix member site.
“Movies make for great conversations,” said Netflix’ VP for product management Gibson Biddle, in a statement. “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.”
Because friends don’t let friends watch bad movies.
The net Netflix service essentially highlights the blurred lines between online functionality and marketing moves: while Netflix subscribers might well enjoy being able to push their Netflix ratings out to their Facebook pages automatically, the service also turns those Facebook pages into marketing channels for Netflix, enabling them to reach out to a wider portion of Facebook’s estimated 175 million users for free, with Netflix subscribers doing all the work of generating content and targeting folks likely to be interested in Netflix’s subscription services. Similar efforts launched via Facebook Connect—the social networking site’s open API designed to integrate it with the broader world of Internet services—have included tie-ins with CBS, Discovery, and the Fox?NBC joint venture Hulu.
