querying the queue

Querying the QueueLindsay Bosch

Netflix Theme Week – In Media Res

Netflix users have long built apps and hacks to make the queue perform as needed. Here, the 2005 user created queue manager allows viewers to sort, drag and drop… years before Netflix-itself develops the functionality

The 2008 App iNeedFlix was developed by users to allow for copying of queues to other profiles or saving the queue completely outside of Netflix. The app allowed for viewers to adopt one another’s queues in whole or portion

In 2009 Userscripts hosted a browser add-on that allowed viewers to see the film box images within their queue.

The visual icon has since become central the the netflix queue redesign. In addition, the company has taken the bost step of replacing the user managed Instant Queue with “My List,” as queue in which “the movies and TV shows you're most likely to watch rise to the top” The default sorting is automated.

It remains to be seen how Netflix automation of the queue will be received by viewers who have embraced the performance of their queue archives.

The company’s move is in keeping with a company that sees itself as a media producer, more than a passive media retailer.

There is a longstanding tradition of users posting images of their queues to online communities including flickr, tumblr, and pinterest.

Users “perform” their knowledge and taste for their peers.

Some published queues evidence a carefully curated through line.

Others are posted as evidence of varied and eclectic taste.

At times these post recreating the interactive videostore interface. “ What should I watch next?” asks this Tumblr user.

Anna Friedman fesses up to the aspirational qualities of her Netflix queuehttp://thehairpin.com/2013/11/the-instant-watch-pie