• by Gavin O'Malley , Staff Writer @mp_gavin, March 13, 2013

In what Web watchers are calling a long-overdue integration, Netflix has finally tapped Facebook to offer social sharing features to its U.S. subscribers.

“With about $5 billion in long-term content obligations, [Netflix CEO Reed Hastings] is counting on the social component to increase word-of-mouth about Netflix’s growing digital library,” Bloomberg reports.

“Social is going to be everything,” Hastings told Bloomberg in January. Now, “Netflix users in the U.S. can [soon] reveal their viewing habits and tastes to their Facebook friends,” CNet reports.

“Ever wanted to know what your former college roommates are watching on Netflix?” GigaOm asks. “Now you’ve got your chance.”

“While it might clutter your shiny new Facebook news feed, it's probably going to do wonders for Netflix, by helping cement the brand's name across the social network,” Gizmodo writes

Still, “it took long enough to get here,” TechCrunch writes of the service. “The social integration was originally reported in July, 2011.”

“The long-awaited Facebook support has been available internationally for well over a year, but was finally made possible for US customers after a bill allowing Netflix data to be shared on Facebook was signed into law in January,” The Verge notes.

Going forward, as Engadget reports, “Netflix also notes that its social features ‘will evolve with new capabilities being tested regularly,’ and that upcoming tests include the ability to let members ‘explicitly share their favorite titles on Facebook and discuss with their friends.’”