A couple weeks ago, Netflix turned off most of the community features. Since then, the reaction around the web has been mixed, with some subscribers claiming indifference and others commenting that Netflix has missed an opportunity – or even changing their movie reviews in protest.So what should Netflix subscribers who miss the community do? Instead of mourning the loss of features like friends’ ratings on movie pages, top 10 lists, and the ability to send movie notes – why not find a movie service that does include friend features, and use it to supplement Netflix?
One movie service that’s especially handy in this context is Jinni, because aside from providing “taste-based” social features, Jinni includes an option to directly integrate Netflix and Jinni accounts. This allows users to, among other things, manage their queues or start streaming on Instant Watch straight from Jinni with a single click.
Jinni, often called “Pandora for movies,” offers search by mood (e.g. “witty, criminal heroes” or “gross-out humor, award winner”) and personalized recommendations based on the “Movie Genome Project.” Jinni isn’t a social network, but includes a selection of social features to help users choose new movies and TV shows to watch.
The way to get started with Jinni’s social features is to follow other users – either by inviting them to Jinni (you’ll then automatically be following each other) or by following them from their public profile pages. Jinni also identifies “neighbors,” other users whose tastes in movies and TV shows are in some way similar to yours, who can be a good source of users worth following. The company says they’re working on Facebook integration.
If you visit another user’s public profile page, you can also see your taste compatibility: displayed as a scale, one or two sentences (e.g. “You both like feel good and stylized stories about good versus evil and heroic missions”) and a visual display of titles.
Once you’re following some interesting users, the “recommendations” page on Jinni will start showing movies and shows that people you follow recently liked, as a way to find something new to watch.
The info section for every movie or TV show includes a “Pulse” tab where you can view the opinions of people you follow – whether that’s a rating, a review, or adding the title to their wish list or favorites – before deciding whether you want to watch it.
For other great new startups to keep your eyes on, check out Wibbitz – Online Video Content Creation, Rounds – Interactive and Fun Chat Videos and also Fiddme – an Interactive Food Blog and Application.
