The Visual Organization: Data Visualization, Big Data, and the Quest for Better Decisions (Wiley and SAS Business Series) by Phil Simon

Author:Phil Simon
Language: eng
Format: mobi
ISBN: 9781118858349
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2014-02-18T18:30:00+00:00

Figure 3.6 Netflix ISP Performance, Country Comparison—July, 2013

Source: Netflix Technology Blog (techblog.netflix.com)

And Figure 3.7 shows the breakdown for the United States during the same month.

Figure 3.7 Netflix ISP Performance, United States—July, 2013

Source: Netflix Technology Blog (techblog.netflix.com)

The index is based on data from the more than 36 million Netflix members who collectively watch more than 1 billion streaming hours of TV shows and movies each month.18 Think about it. Diehard Netflix subscribers can use the index to select their next ISP. As I write these words, perhaps an angry Cablevision customer in New Jersey is deciding to stick with his incumbent ISP because Netflix rates Comcast slower.

EMBRACING THE COMMUNITY

In keeping with Version 2.0 of the Apache License,19 Netflix has made Lipstick and some of its open-source solutions freely downloadable to anyone with an Internet connection.20 Although this may seem counterintuitive to many traditionalists, rereleasing improved projects back into the community is hardly uncommon in the open-source world. For instance, in Too Big to Ignore, I wrote about how Internet advertising company Quantcast did the same thing after forking the Hadoop Distributed File System. Quantcast created the Quantcast File System (QFS) as a cost-effective alternative to its Hadoop counterpart. After spending considerable internal resources on the project, Quantcast freely made QFS available to the world at large.

Skeptics could argue that making Lipstick publicly available is just a PR move or an empty gesture. Imagine the developer reaction when a multi-billion-company keeps stealing from the cookie jar without replenishing it. (In the open-source world, this just isn’t cool.) Netflix understands, however, that such a move is not just altruistic; it’s concurrently selfish. External developers often take highly visible open-source projects like Lipstick in entirely new directions. In a critical way, Netflix is outsourcing potential innovation around Big Data and dataviz. To be sure, Netflix employs myriad smart cookies, but plenty of talented folks are not on its payroll. Why not take advantage of their acumen and skills?

Beyond releasing open-source projects, Netflix also uses its API to look outward. As Ben Schmaus writes on the Netflix blog:

The Netflix API serves as an integration hub that connects our device user interfaces to a distributed network of data services. In supporting this ecosystem, the API needs to integrate an ever-evolving set of features from these services and expose them to devices. The faster these features can be delivered through the API, the faster they can get in front of customers and improve the user experience.9

While not totally open, the Netflix API is “open enough.” That is, other people and companies can access it to extend Netflix core offerings. For instance, a third-party site called Instant Watcher21 (IW) allows subscribers to manage their queues. Beyond simply adding movies, IW users can do things that they currently cannot do on the Netflix home page and app. For instance, they can see which Netflix movies are trending, which actors and movies other subscribers have recently searched, and which movies are expiring soon (although Netflix will no longer be providing that information in the near future).

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