We all know social networking may be a feature, not an application, but one person’s feature can become another’s bane.

So when Netflix offers a handy Friends feature that makes it easy to share your viewing history and recommendations, it opens itself up not only to the value of social interaction, but also the awkwardness it can sometimes be rife with.

Titration’s story is instructive:

So I have this friend who has invited me to become her “netflix friend” twice now. The first time I totally ignored it. But this time I feel I need to say something. The thing is, I am not “out” to her. And frankly my movie listing would give me away. Straight christian women don’t tend to watch things like “The ‘L’ word” or “If these walls could speak 2”.

I have no idea what to say. I was thinking of trying to joke a bit about my movies being inappropriate for all audiences. But the problem with being a good girl like I am is that she will not believe me.

She will ask me questions. And then I will have to say “I’m not comfortable sharing.” And she will know something is up anyway. Maybe I should just let netflix out me. I think it is much better to tell a friend to their face shocking news like this. But dang nabbit it all I am not yet ready. I think I’m a bit befuddled on this one.

social software, out, netflix, awkward, friends, outed, social networks

Posted May 2, 2007 by Casey Bisson
Categories: Libraries & Networked Information, Politics & Controversy, Technology. Tags: awkward, friends, netflix, out, outed, social networks, social software.

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