According to Hacking Netflix, Netflix is planning on rolling out a new feature called Friends (no relation to the tv show, thankfully). Essentially, it'll be a social network where you can see ratings by your friends and you'll have a page where you can see recommendations based on what your friends are watching. Netflix has posted an informational page about the new feature.

I'm really excited about this feature. Everyone trusts their friends' judgement over those of the critics and random movie nuts, which is why this is so cool. Without sending an email to all of my movie friends, I can already have their opinion on the site when I'm scoping out a movie.

The feature is in public beta right now, but I'm hoping it rolls out soon. I'm really excited to play with this.

Also, the Netflix link has an informational flash video and Hacking Netflix has a few screenshots.