Netflix revealed in the company’s blog that 75 percent of the content viewed by users came from its recommendation engine. In fact, Netflix emphasizes the fact that “everything is a recommendation” is on the site in one form or another.

The streaming media company did not release its algorithm used in its recommendation engine, but it did discuss its Netflix Prize announced in 2006 that awarded anyone who could improve upon the current recommendation engine $1 million. In 2007, the Korbell team won a progress prize, not the $1 million, by improving the recommendation algorithm by 8.43 percent. The grand prize was actually won by BellKor’s Pragmatic Chaos in 2009.

Netflix stated that its advanced recommendation algorithm provides each user with a personalized home screen based on the user’s ratings and content watched. The company seems focused on personalizing its service as much as possible. Whether or not this affects the user’s experience or the overall usability of the Netflix interface is a question in itself.

Netflix has made major changes to its business model in the past several months. The company raised its prices by 60 percent last July and subsequently announced it would be separating its DVD service into a completely new division called Quickster. The following three months, Netflix lost 800,000 DVD subscribers and 200,000 online members. This caused Netflix stock to drop by 60 percent.

Netflix plans to focus on its streaming media division, which the company believes is the future direction of content delivery. Its streaming media service was launched in 2007. It’s accessible on many different devices, including Playstation 3, Xbox 360, Roku Player, iPhone (News - Alert)/Android devices, tablets and computers.

The company also just signed a deal with Hasbro to deliver child-friendly content to its users. Hasbro is a popular toy and game maker with a large catalog of content for Netflix to use.