A personal project exploring how to improve the experience of how users discover new content to watch on Netflix. Despite tons of data gathered from Netflix to create detailed recommendations, I discovered that most users are influenced by outside conversations from friends and family. I decided to design an update to the Netflix TV app that would allow users to see what their friends are watching and feel more confident about new shows they try.
MY FRUSTRATION
Have you ever found your self mindlessly scrolling through Netflix, not knowing what to watch? Its a big commitment picking a new show. I've always wanted to know what my friends are watching and what they recommend. In fact, conversations with my friends is the biggest influence when finding new content to watch. I wanted to know if my piers felt the same way and if there was a way to improve the Netflix browsing experience so that users might feel more confident in the shows they chose to try.
WHERE DO USERS HAVE THE MOST SUCCESS IN FINDING SHOWS TO WATCH ON NETFLIX?
BENCHMARKING
In thinking about how to facilitate more social influence on Netflix, I began researching other experiences that have similar features. Many of these features were found applicable to a social experience inside of the Netflix application.
FRIEND ACTIVITY
User's expressed the usefulness of spotify's "Friend Activity" in discovering new music.
Online esports arena Twitch also uses similar data to suggest games to watch and play.
TOTAL VIEWS
Another influential data point is total views/ streams. Service like Spotify, Twitch and Youtube display similar information.
OTHER FINDINGS
NETFLIX - SOCIAL
INFORMATION HIERARCHY
An addition and change in the hierarchy to the displayed information allows users to see how many times a show or series has been viewed.
Hovering over a show also displays who in the users friend network recommends that show.
"NETFLIX FRIENDS" ITERATIONS
"NETFLIX FRIENDS"
The "NETFLIX FRIENDS" side bar allows users to see what specific friends are watching the selected show and what the rate it and what specific they have to say about it.
PROJECT IN PROGRESS