Netflix Users In U.S. Will Soon Be Able To Link Their Accounts To Facebook

By the end of this week, all 27 million American citizens with access to Netflix’s streaming service will be able to share their viewing activity with their Facebook friends.

Late last year, Netflix announced that its users would soon be able to share their activity on the service online, just as Spotify users can share what songs they are listening to on Facebook, thanks to the Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA) update being signed. According to OpenSecrets.org, Netflix spent over $1 million lobbying for the changes to the VPPA.

To share information about what they are enjoying and see what their friends are watching, Netflix users will have to opt in to the service. Shows that users have watched or interacted with will appear automatically in the new "Friends' Favorites" and "Watched by your friends" sections on their friends’ Netflix, but users can alter their Netflix account’s “Social Settings” so that their viewing activity appears in their friends’ Facebook notification feeds as well.

"There are few better ways to find a movie or TV series you'll love than hearing about it from your friends," said Netflix’s VP of product innovation, Tom Willerer.  "Facebook already makes it easy for our international members to connect with friends over TV shows and movies and we're thrilled to now bring this experience to our U.S. members."

The ability to connect Netflix with a Facebook account has been available to users outside the United States for over a year, giving the company ample opportunity to tweak and perfect the service for optimum benefit to its users. Netflix does, however, intend to continue working to improve the sharing service: there is a forum feature in development, where users can share their favourite shows and talk about them with their friends on Facebook.

"Over the years, Netflix has deepened its Facebook integration to enable people to discover movies through friends and to share what they're watching," said Justin Osofsky, Facebook’s Director of Platform Partnerships and Operations. "With their integration, Netflix has a new opportunity to reach the more than one billion people on Facebook. We look forward to Netflix continuing to integrate with Facebook and offering their community rich ways to discover movies and TV shows with their friends."

Do you watch certain shows based on the advice and activity of your friends?