To make Netflix more fun and exciting and to give y’all something more to talk about on the dinner table, the company has today introduced a new service called ‘Flixtape’. The idea behind this service dates back to the 80’s(which you might not be aware of), when people used to curate their music playlists and make mixtapes for their friends or girlfriends to bop too.
The company describes Flixtape as a curated short playlist of your Netflix titles, that is based around a particular theme(genre), a mood or a message. Once created you can then share it with your friends and family via modern-day social media platforms Twitter, Facebook, or email and text.
Now, the service gives you a choice to — ‘make your own’ playlist or choose from a collection of pre-curated playlists that are ‘made for you’.
Once you select the ‘made for you’ playlist option, you see a scrollable list of playlists revolving around generic themes and select titles based off your viewing history. So if you’re lazy and don’t want to put in much effort, then you can definitely choose one of these and share it on the interwebs. But if you’re motivated to make a playlist of your own, then you’re in for a fun ride.
‘Make your own’
Let’s take a look at how to make your own curated movies and TV show playlist to share with your besties.
First, get your thinking cap on and choose a representative name for your playlist. The Flixtape engine then analyses your title and suggests you a couple movies and TV shows that match your playlist’s theme to start you off. But if you don’t feel that the suggested movies don’t match the vibe you’re going for, then you can easily edit those out and put in your favorite ones.
But, unfortunately you cannot bulk up your playlist with a hoard of titles, Netflix has decided to restricted the number of titles that can be added to it. The user can input only 6 movies or TV shows in one curated playlist. Also, you don’t have the option to choose, add or recommended any individual episode to your playlist.
Mixtapes are supposed to a personal collection, made for someone special. So, the curation tool also allows you to be creative and customize the ‘Flixtape’ cover with doodles and titles that match your mood and style. You also have the option to make it even more personal by including the name of the person(who should have a Netflix account, or you can share passwords! :P) you’re sending it to.
That’s the penultimate step before you click ‘done’ and your playlist is ready to be sent off into the realms of the Internet and shared with the one you like.
Netflix’s recommendation system is kinda busted and shows only what’s popular and what’s trending on the front page. It provides you with suggestion based only off your recently viewed content, instead of showing more of what your friends or family would like. But, Flixtape is now here to solve that particular problem.
