Netflix kills the ‘Surprise Me’ button that no one uses

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Netflix has removed the ‘Surprise Me’ button that no one was using. Which, ironically, isn’t much of a surprise.

The Surprise Me button on Netflix would help viewers pick out a show or movie to watch when they couldn’t decide. It was a nice idea that people ended up rarely using.

A spokesperson told The Wall Street Journal that most users come to Netflix already with a show or movie in mind. So the Surprise Me button is something that was rarely used.

“We will continue to explore other ways to give members more options and ways to explore and discover content they want to watch,” said the spokesperson.

Netflix discontinued the Surprise Me button quietly last month. It’s not uncommon for the platform to try out a feature, discover it isn’t popular, and quietly remove it.

The Surprise Me button is an example of that process. The button used Netflix’s algorithms and users’ viewing habits to suggest content automatically.

Clicking the button would bring up a show or movie that Netflix thought you might want to see. But that never seemed to resonate with users.

At the end of the day, an algorithm or AI will never be able to suggest content perfectly for Netflix users. All it takes is one bad suggestion from Netflix’s Surprise Me button for most users to disregard it entirely.

Netflix’s Surprise Me button had a good run over the past few years. But it was only a matter of time before the platform removed the feature that no one was using.

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