Netflix Social shows your friends’ viewing habits (and yours)

What you or your friends watch on Netflix has long been confidential information. If you indulged in six straight hours of “Quincy” (nice move!), only you would know. But that all changes — if you want it to — with Netflix Social. If you choose to connect your Netflix account with Facebook, a whole new world of voyeurism  sharing will open up to you and your similarly FB-connected friends. Once you give the OK, you’ll then see two new rows in Netflix: “Friends’ Favorites” and “Watched by Your Friends.” The former highlights which movies or shows were rated four or five stars by your buddies, and the latter shows everything your friends have watched. With “Watched by Your Friends” you can sort the row by friends, so you can see specifically what each person viewed.

Of course there are some privacy filters too. Click the “Don’t Share This Button” on a certain program and no one will ever know. Netflix’ How To video above shows that button being used with an episode of “Bob’s Burgers”–why would you hide that!? By default, sharing will only happen on Netflix, so don’t expect to have your dirty viewing laundry aired out on Facebook. Company officials say all U.S. Netflix members will have access to the social features by the end of this week.