Flixster is a social network for movie lovers. Now in its fourth year, the site has millions of users and offers a good marriage of a movie reviews and a social networking elements. The social networking features include profile creation, friending, and comment walls.

It takes only a few seconds to start using Flixster. Once your profile is setup, you can start by rating a few films you’ve seen recently. This will improve the recommendations that are made for you. Rating is as simple as clicking on a title and selecting the number of stars you want to give a film. You can also include a review if you wish.

Soon your profile will automatically feature your recent reviews, films you want to see, and more. If there’s anything to criticize, it’s that the profile page is a bit too busy. However, apart from that the site works well. The ability to embed a Flixster slideshow of your top picks on other social sites is quite useful.

Practical Uses:

• Browse or create guides to your favorite movies
• Discuss films with your friends
• Get movie recommendations based on the types of films you enjoy
• Research movie information for a school research paper

Insider Tips:

• Use the skin gallery to create a unique profile page
• Communicate with your friends via Flixster IM, which is run through Meebo
• Check out the privacy settings in your account; you can opt out of most email updates
• Build an instant friends network by importing your email contacts
• Integrate Flixster with your Facebook account through the Movies app
• If you use an iPhone, check out the mobile Flixter app which includes many of the desktop features

What we liked:

• Rating movies was easy, as there’s a list of current films on the front page
• There are RSS feeds for your own reviews and those of the super reviewers
• The never-ending movie quiz is fantastic
• Customizing the design of our profiles

What we didn’t like:

• Using MySpace ID to register didn’t work well, as not all profile details were pulled in
• You can’t find friends if you have a Google Apps email account

Alternatives:

• Criticker – criticker.com
• FilmCrave – filmcrave.com
• FlickChart – flickchart.com
• I Heart Movies – iheartmovies.com
• Spout – spout.com

Company Info:

• Launched: January 2006
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: San Francisco, CA
• Founded by: Joe Greenstein, Saran Chari
• Web site: www.flixster.com

Costs:

• Free; ad supported

Rating:

• 4 out of 5 (great)