Posts Tagged ‘netflix’

Twitter-bay-zon…Twitter, eBay and Amazon Combined into One App!

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010

I was reading this TechCrunch article today about how Amazon just incorporated a Facebook tab/section into their website so that customers can supply their Facebook account information and then automatically see what their friends’ wish lists are or what CD their friends just purchased so they can buy it too.  I thought that this development was interesting because it is basically the largest eCommerce company integrating with the largest Social Networking company in this way and it could mark the beginning of a new trend.

What would be some more interesting eCommerce/Social Networking “mash-ups” that we could dream up here?  Another interesting match-up that I thought of in this area was the combination of Twitter and eBay.  I think that it would be very useful for people that are trying to sell a product in an auction on eBay to be able to automatically broadcast this auction over Twitter real-time as bids are being made.  To get a little crazier here we could even add an Amazon integration into the mix where users could see live streaming tweets on an Amazon product page of the same item being sold on eBay!  Let’s call it “Twitter-Bay-Zon”!

On second thought, I am guessing that Amazon wouldn’t be too happy about this partnership I just proposed here as it would directly interfere with the current used-item marketplace that they already have, but I think you are catching my drift here.  Are we about to see a major melding of the eCommerce and Social Networking companies online?  I think that it only makes sense and would lead to increased sales, advertising, and users for everyone involved…so why not?

Here are a couple more eCommerce/Social Networking mash-ups that I just thought of that would be interesting: MySpace & Amazon and YouTube & NetFlix. What are some other partnerships like this that you see forming in the next 5 years?  What company could you see your business partnering with to get an advantage over your competition in the same way?

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Posts Tagged ‘netflix’

Netflix Sounds Like a Pretty Cool Place to Work

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

This article about Netflix on TechCrunch gives a summary of a 128-page PowerPoint deck (that is also included in full at the bottom) that was apparently originally intended as a communication to new employees in order to share the “Seven Aspects of our Culture” at Netflix. 

Most of the ideas in this deck seem like they were written by asking a group of employees of any company, “What policies do you wish your company had?”  A couple of the Netflix policies in this deck that fall into this category would be the  “take as much vacation as you feel you need” policy and the “pay employees more than they could get anywhere else” policy.  These sound like great ideas if you are a potential candidate to work at Netflix but I think that these policies can only work in certain cultures where only the cream of the crop work.

There are also a few Netflix policies in this deck that really seem like good ideas no matter where you work.  One of the policies basically says that if you think about one person on your team that you would do anything to keep from leaving you should then look at the other people on your team and consider firing them so that you open a spot for a new “superstar” employee to take.

Another idea in this deck that is very interesting to me is that Netflix apparently doesn’t believe in offering their employees training or “career development” as they put it.  They think that they are helping develop their employees by simply allowing them to interact with their other colleagues at Netflix.  They also make a good point that high performance people are often very resourceful and will find ways to develop their own careers and should not rely on a corporation to do this for them.

There are a lot of other interesting ideas in this Netflix deck…check it out and let us know what other ideas you like.

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