Netflix Loses “Instant Queue” for “My List” Feature

Currently there are 133 titles in my Netflix Instant Queue. They’re all things I genuinely want to watch, but haven’t gotten around to, because I basically just watch Cheers. To help folks like me, Netflix is changing the Instant Queue to “My List” and ranking it by what it thinks you want to watch most. Thank you, Netflix. You really get me.

Some folks appear to be a little creeped out by the new feature, but it doesn’t actually strike me as that new. Netflix already makes recommendations for what it thinks you’ll enjoy, and in the years I’ve used the service I can say they’ve done a pretty solid job finding things I like.

Part of the problem with having so many choices is actually pulling the trigger on what to watch. There’s a list of 133 things I want to see, but when I look at that list it’s easy to get overwhelmed. Having Netflix use its algorithms to pull from a list of things I’ve already pre-selected as something I want to see seems pretty great to me.

Netflix users outside the U.S. should be excited because it turns out Netflix never offered the Instant Queue feature to its worldwide users.

I just logged into my account, and it doesn’t appear to have rolled out yet. According to the Netflix blog post announcing the changes, users worldwide can expect to see it within the next two weeks. I’m really looking forward to it, and if the My List algorithm just puts Cheers as the number one thing I want to watch at any given time then we’ll know it’s working.

(Netflix via All Things D, image screencapped from my Netflix account)

Meanwhile in related links

• The makers of You Don’t Know Jack have a solution for what to watch
• Netflix will be producing original comedy specials and documentaries
• They also introduced individual profiles which is a great feature