Netflix has launched a two thumbs up button — what does it do?

If you love something, why give it merely one thumbs up? Netflix has announced it has launched a new feature, a two thumbs up button, that will allow for a better curated home page through recommendations.

The new feature will sit alongside the single thumbs up and thumbs down buttons with the idea being that if a user really enjoys a film or television show, rather than simply liking it, they can love it by giving it two thumbs up.

“Our current thumbs up and thumbs down buttons are a good way for you to tell us how you feel about a series or film, and in return, you get a profile that’s better personalised to your taste,” said Netflix in a blog post.

Users on Netflix will now have three options to choose from after watching a film or television show. Photo: Netflix

“However, we’ve learned over time that these feelings can go beyond a simple like or dislike. Providing an additional way to tell us when you’re really into something means a profile with recommendations that better reflect what you enjoy.”

This means that someone who gives a double thumbs up to a show such as Bridgerton will soon get more specific recommendations based on that show, such as other shows or films starring the cast or by the creators, for example from Shonda Rhimes' Shondaland.

In 2017, Netflix got rid of its five-star rating system in favour of the thumbs up/down. In an interview with Variety, Netflix's director of product innovation Christine Doig-Cardet said that users “felt like those two options were not sufficient,” and that having three options “strikes the right balance of simplicity with giving enough range of emotion.”

She also said that the thumbs down button wasn't used often and that if people didn't enjoy what they were watching, they simply stopped.

“We’ve heard from members that there’s a difference between something they liked — and something that they really loved. We’re giving them more control and agency over what is being shown to them," she said.

The new feature will be launched worldwide throughout the week.

Notable salonnières of the Middle East through history

Al Khasan (Okaz, Saudi Arabia)

Tamadir bint Amr Al Harith, known simply as Al Khasan, was a poet from Najd famed for elegies, earning great renown for the eulogy of her brothers Mu’awiyah and Sakhr, both killed in tribal wars. Although not a salonnière, this prestigious 7th century poet fostered a culture of literary criticism and could be found standing in the souq of Okaz and reciting her poetry, publicly pronouncing her views and inviting others to join in the debate on scholarship. She later converted to Islam.

Maryana Marrash (Aleppo)

A poet and writer, Marrash helped revive the tradition of the salon and was an active part of the Nadha movement, or Arab Renaissance. Born to an established family in Aleppo in Ottoman Syria in 1848, Marrash was educated at missionary schools in Aleppo and Beirut at a time when many women did not receive an education. After touring Europe, she began to host salons where writers played chess and cards, competed in the art of poetry, and discussed literature and politics. An accomplished singer and canon player, music and dancing were a part of these evenings.

Princess Nazil Fadil (Cairo)

Princess Nazil Fadil gathered religious, literary and political elite together at her Cairo palace, although she stopped short of inviting women. The princess, a niece of Khedive Ismail, believed that Egypt’s situation could only be solved through education and she donated her own property to help fund the first modern Egyptian University in Cairo.

Mayy Ziyadah (Cairo)

Ziyadah was the first to entertain both men and women at her Cairo salon, founded in 1913. The writer, poet, public speaker and critic, her writing explored language, religious identity, language, nationalism and hierarchy. Born in Nazareth, Palestine, to a Lebanese father and Palestinian mother, her salon was open to different social classes and earned comparisons with souq of where Al Khansa herself once recited.