Netflix Canada Fails at Social Media

The world is awash in the hip view that social media is the great new frontier for advertising and company/customer participation. There are endless experts willing to give advice on how the old relationships are changing. They raise a resounding chorus of how things are so different nowadays as companies embrace a people-focused Internet future.

The problem with all this noise is that I have a really hard time thinking of a real-life example. Let me think of an existing company that's recently opened up a new service in Canada. I'll look at Netflix Canada for inspiration.



For what I have seen by their implemention of a Facebook page, their foray into this brave, new world is relatively useless. Over 2,200 people like the Netflix Canada page. Whereas it has the potential to connect customers to the company, it is actually being used for little more than silly trivia. For example, there are discussion boards where people comment and have asked numerous questions. The problem is that no one has been given authorization to actually interact on behalf of Netflix. So, basically the forum has become a stagnant location for people voicing complaints. Surely, this benefits neither the company nor present (and potential) customers positively.

The promise has been dashed by the total lack of communication of their plans or ideas. Therefore, the potential is being totally wasted, and if anything I'm more frustrated than if I hadn't seen their half-hearted attempt to be social. A company should not venture into social media unless there are clear guidelines and an authorized flow of new, useful information. Staff must be empowered to actually participate on behalf of the company.

I would like to find out about licensing agreements, software innovation, upgrade plans, and things that affect me as a customer. Instead, today we're supposed to "pay tribute Leslie Nielsen with your favourite line or movie quote." Social networking need not be relegated to brainless hokum.

In my humble opinion, Netflix Canada, you have a lot to learn about using social media to your advantage!