From Paul Lamere's Duke Listens!:

ffwd is new service (still in private beta), that is hoping to help you find discover web video. I've taken it for a quick spin. They have a pretty nifty enrollment process - where you click on shows that you like so they can get an idea of your taste. Once you've selected your shows they assign you a video personality based upon your selections (I'm a 'comedy writer', apparently I like comedies). Once you are enrolled you can start to discover videos.

Sounds really interesting. MovieLens, LibraryThing, etc. have been around for a while, but even though in a way they are 'Web 3.0' services (peer recommendations), in another way they are still stuck in the past, when it comes to integration: sure, you get access to the IMDb or Amazon page for the item, but that's the extent of integration offered.

ffwd promises that -- the video is available in the same interface, so you can quickly act on a recommendation. There's still a problem, in that the service still relies on network effect in what is nearly a zero-sum game: more users here means less users for other peer recommendation services. Some people would be using multiple services, which means their data likely won't be up to date in all, which means the services will offer suboptimal recommendations (so it's bad for all concerned).

Take the new Data Portability initiative into account, though, and a market in recommendation services could soon spring up. Use various services, and give them authorization to pull your rating data from each other. The user gets to experiment with which site has the algorithms and user base to provide good ratings in which situations, and the services get to compete on how good they do their jobs, not merely how well they can gobble up and lock their market down (think Wintel).