Are Facebook’s announcements what lead to Qwikster?
We’ve all been reading a lot about Netflix plans to spin off there DVD by mail business into a new company called Qwikster. Everyones talking about their theories as to why they would make such a drastic move. Yet, no one seems to be talking about what I think is the biggest reason for this change, Facebook.
This didn’t really occur to me until I saw Reed Hastings get up on stage during the keynote at Facebooks, f8.
One of the most important features of netflix has always been the recommendations, and as Hasting’s himself said on stage, sharing is 100 times more powerful than machine based recommendations.
The problem with keeping the DVD by mail business integrated is that the account model for that business is a household account. But sharing and syncing with facebook demands an indivdual accout model.
If netflix has its way, in this new streaming only model individuals within one household will each have their own account and your netflix account will be synced with your facebook account from day one, sharing everything you watch with all of your friends automatically.
Sharing is that important to Netflix, so important that they are willing to go through this transition that they know will anger their users.
So important that they know, without it, they don’t stand a chance.
