TrustedOpinion Combines Social Recommendations With Netflix Rentals

If you recall the past public request by Netflix (the very successful US-based direct mail DVD rental service) for a recommendation engine that would operate in a more personalized and social fashion than the one currently in place, you may find this next story somewhat interesting.

It involves TrustedOpinion.com, and I must say there’s something of a strange arrangement between Netflix and the relatively young engine. Strange primarily because TrustedOpinion, rather than have its technology integrated fully into the Netflix website, is maintaining all recommendations and generally the vast majority of backend theatrics itself.

And no APIs are involved. Yes, very interesting indeed.

The model of TrustedOpinion is built around the concept of friendly recommendations. Put the network effect of a MySpace or Facebook-like friends list together with various media releases and such and you end up with something like TrustedOpinion.

Until now, I couldn’t have imagined a utility like TrustedOpinion alone gaining much traction in the Web services industry. This of course has most to do with the fact that services built around recommendations are, well, not all that important, strictly speaking.

With the bridging of TrustedOpinion and Netflix, however, the former clearly can serve a purpose. There are currently millions of active Netflix accounts; I can foresee many (though surely not the majority) taking to the recommendation service, knowing that such an option is in fact available.

That said, I’m still going to write it off as highly unlikely that TrustedOpinion will grab hold of enough Netflix members to make the “merger” worthwhile. Why?

Facebook.

As much as I take issue with the growing supply of applications introduced to the second or third largest flock of online social networkers, there’s no doubt that Netflix is currently eyeing the throng of 30+ million Facebookers with incredible zeal, and I presume it is working on putting two and two together, so to speak. Therefore, I suspect only one thing can keep TrustedOpinion on a path to sustainable growth: get there first.

I don’t quite see how that would prove possible, though. TrustedOpinion is, after all, a sort of network unto itself. To ask Facebook members join into another, much smaller circle would be silly to say the least. (Despite the fact that it is technically feasible to do.)

All in all, as good as TrustedOpinion can be in an ideal setting, I don’t think it’s relationship with Netflix is meant to be. At least not in any big way.

It’s only natural for a business to go where there numbers are and where the socially networked are already socially networked. Facebook clearly fits that mold.

Perhaps for those uninterested in Facebook, MySpace and the rest, Netflix will maintain a bond with TrustedOpinion. It could hang around for a good deal longer than I personally believe it will, subsisting on a segment of Netflix users that want to “keep things simple” while getting the kind of personalized recommendations they desire. For the sake of those members who’ve most vociferously demanded a better engine of Netflix, TrustedOpinion could turn out to be a solid alternative to a fully integrated upgrade. Or not.