Netflix users in the U.S. this week will for the first time see video recommendations from their Facebook friends.

As the video above explains, the changes will be manifest in two new rows on Netflix's homepage and app. One row shows "Friends' Favorites," or movies and TV shows that your Facebook friends have given a high rating. The other displays "Watched by Your Friends." You can also break it down by items watched by specific friends. To get such information, you need to connect your Netflix and Facebook accounts.

To share your favorites and recently watched films, you need to do the same. There is an option, however, to not share certain titles as well. You can also unshare any item that you've previously shared. According to Netflix, the activity "will only happen on Netflix," and won't appear in Facebook's News Feed.

Netflix has been trying to get Facebook integration for U.S. users for some time. However, the decades-old Video Protection Privacy Act (VPPA), which prohibits sharing someone's video rental history without their express approval or a police warrant, barred such action. In December, Congress passed a bill updating the VPPA to accommodate the Facebook integration. International users, meanwhile, have had a Facebook sharing option for some time. However, that integration didn't let users choose what they want to share. International users will be able to upgrade to the new version.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, mphillips007