For all the praise and encouragement I've gotten from my younger colleagues on my responsiveness and adaptivity to the latest in web-based wizardry, I have hesitated until only now to join Netflix. Yet it had nothing to do with learning the web interface; rather, it had everything to do with committing my time to watching DVDs of movies I've largely missed or skipped.
Part of this is a nostalgia for the 'movie house experience'. I may be relegated these days to sitting by myself in the movie theatre, but at least I was in the company of others. Watching movies at home is such a ... solitary activity. But waiting for movies to appear in revival houses or to rotate onto TCM or some other movie channel -- and during hours when I could actually watch it -- is really an incredibly 'inefficient' way to see what you want to see. Mind you, I haven't yet gone the way of Tivo or getting a DVR.
And so the plunge.
What is instructive is that as soon as I registered, I looked for a way to put my movie queue onto my blog. Netflix, being at heart a commercial entity, wants to be in on sharing my preferences with other customers, actual or potential. Hunt while I may across their web pages, only one way to share with friends: finger them for Netflix. And this is something I'm reluctant to do. I'm not exactly certain why: I have not qualms about using del.icio.us to share bookmarks or Bloglines (or as of today, Google Reader) to share my feeds. Clearly all three of these concerns will gain by my participation and sharing on their sites.
What exactly sets outfits like Netflix apart from these other enterprises? The feel-good aura of social networking? That's what I'm thinking at this point.
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