The article “From Netflix Streaming to Netflix and Chill: The (Dis)Connected Body of Serial Binge-Viewer” looks at the streaming service Netflix and how it gathers and uses data from your online viewing and creates a personalised service for you. This service then allows and encourages the user to “binge-watch” several episodes of a series in one sitting in order to create “immersive and algorithmically pushed media marathoning” (Perks, 2015; Pittman & Sheehan, 2015). This is further encouraged through societal expectations due to the rise of Netflix over the past 10 years and the reliance on this digital streaming service.
The article goes on to state that Netflix aims to change the perception of being a couch potato and the negativity that goes with that into more of a positive mindset of an active participation activity where the user’s preferences and history is used to inform Netflix of further shows that may be of interest in order to promote them and to continue this “binge.” Netflix utilises a tagging system where each film, series and episode is tagged with specific words that identify actors, emotions or genres that are used to target and appeal to its users. This is used to allow the consumer to connect with media that they would more than likely enjoy in order to continue spending their time and money with Netflix.
Netflix is strongly linked in with social media in the sense that the majority of Netflix users would also be utilising some form of social media. Through these social media accounts, the users would promote their own viewing habits in the forms of memes, fan pages and recommendations. This allows other users to see this data entries and in turn begin watching shows that they feel like they would connect with. Therefore ensnaring more users who in turn, recreate this chain and pull in more users.
Netflix and Chill was a term that came to popularity in 2015 and has multiple interpretations and meanings. The article examines the multiple interpretations such as recommendations and co-presence, attention and distraction and attachment and detachment. These different interpretations have been encouraged by Netflix and they have utilised these different meanings to identify an area of the market that they could expand into.
I somewhat agree with this article in the sense that Netflix as a digital streaming service provides its users with personalised content by collecting and analysing data about an individual’s streaming preferences. Once they have these preferences they would then go about capitalising on these preferences by creating new shows, films or products which allow them to gain more control and money. Netflix should be seen as a business like any other on an online platform. I believe that users often forget or disregard that Netflix often takes information about them and their viewing habits and uses this to their own advantage. Moving into a more technological world, I believe this is where we will run into more serious privacy issues when people don’t read their terms and conditions and just click that they have been read. This will lead to people have less and less privacy, especially in the online world and our social media platforms.
Reference List
Perks, L. G. (2015). Media marathoning: Immersions in morality. Lanham, MD: Lexington Books.
Pilipets, E. (2019). From Netflix Streaming to Netflix and Chill: The (Dis)Connected Body of Serial Binge-Viewer. Social Media + Society.
