I was a shareholder from 2007 to 2010. I enjoy Netflix and want to see it continue to be successful. I think Reed Hastings is a brilliant CEO. However, I have been disappointed since 2010 when Netflix decided to remove the 'Friends' feature. This feature allowed you and your friends (upon invitation and approval by you) to share ratings of movies with each other as well as scan the movies that eac
h other had in their queue and at home. Below is a statement from their VP of Product Management in March 2010:
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"Friends is a feature on the Netflix Web site that’s been used by less than two percent of all subscribers since we added the feature in 2004. As a comparison, roughly 50 percent of Netflix members are now instantly watching movies and TV episodes on computers and televisions via game consoles, Blu-ray disc players and other devices that have been on the market since 2008. No company has unlimited resources and we decided to move engineering development time and resources from a little used feature to support and maintain the things that benefit all Netflix members as the service evolves – more devices for streaming and better encoding, for example. Unfortunately for Friends users, this means the phasing out of the Friends feature, which will continue over the coming months."
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