I'm wondering if some of the changes that IMDB had implemented had also had an impact on the rise of Letterboxd. Early on, IMDB had a communal element to it with really active forums, however IMDB shut those down in 2017 which pushed people off the platform and into other spaces. Letterboxd filled that void with a pretty active review/comment section creating a much more communal experience than IMDB offered.
In its early days I always thought Letterboxd was just Goodreads for movies. Amazon eventually bought Goodreads and integrated their review scores into their bookstore. Would make sense for a big online movie store to do the same for Letterboxd.
Besides the monetisation problem with scaling, the "weird" parts also go. Letterboxd was this quirky place for movie nerds and film fans, who share a certain world view about things, but more people coming in aren't in that "in" group.
I'm wondering if some of the changes that IMDB had implemented had also had an impact on the rise of Letterboxd. Early on, IMDB had a communal element to it with really active forums, however IMDB shut those down in 2017 which pushed people off the platform and into other spaces. Letterboxd filled that void with a pretty active review/comment section creating a much more communal experience than IMDB offered.
In its early days I always thought Letterboxd was just Goodreads for movies. Amazon eventually bought Goodreads and integrated their review scores into their bookstore. Would make sense for a big online movie store to do the same for Letterboxd.
Besides the monetisation problem with scaling, the "weird" parts also go. Letterboxd was this quirky place for movie nerds and film fans, who share a certain world view about things, but more people coming in aren't in that "in" group.
Interesting read. I wasn’t aware of those Letterboxd stats.