This February, Netflix held a “hackathon” encouraging employees and users to submit their ideas on how to improve the website. The results were impressive, and it’s obvious users know what users want. Many of the suggestions borrowed ideas from other successful websites and companies, altering it to fit the preexisting Netflix user interface. Until I saw these ideas, I didn’t think Netflix could be improved; it’s already a simple design offering a lot of video for only $7.99/month. Now, I’m just hoping Netflix will make these changes soon.
This technology incorporates the Fitbit bracelet to monitor stats and daily activity. Although the bracelet is often used for weight loss, it also monitors your sleep. Because of Fitbit’s wireless connectivity, Netflix could connect to the bracelet and monitor when a user fell asleep. If a user falls asleep in the middle of a Netflix TV or movie, the Fitbit bracelet will recognize this and transmit a signal to Netflix telling the program to pause. When the user wakes up, they have the ability to resume where they left off. This is cool in two big ways. First, it is connecting with a bracelet primarily used for weight loss. It’s a simple (and for the most part, cheap) solution to an annoying problem, plus it could potentially advance the field of wearable technology.
Playlists are often used on sites like Pandora, 8tracks and iTunes, so why not use them on a platform for TV shows and movies? With this hack, users would have the ability to group items together. Just as you’re in the “mood” to listen to a certain type of music, you may want to watch a certain “type” of TV show or movie. Each playlist could even be based on a user’s emotions; if they were happy, they may want to watch a happy movie.
Using Netflix Beam, users with Netflix accounts could beam a program onto another device without signing in. This hack is ideal for guests who don’t want to sign in and sign out after visiting a friend’s house and watching something on the site. None of these hacks are crucial for the continued success of Netflix, but they are all designed to perfect the user experience. These hackers have stepped back and thought of things that bother them. In doing so, they may have come up with Netflix’s next big idea.
These ideas are just a few of my favorites, but you can check out all of the hacks here. Note: you can't search for these videos on Google.