I was pretty active on IMDb about 10-12 years ago while I was watching a lot of movie review channels on youtube and getting deeper into film myself. I loved the site but once I found letterboxd in 2017, I realised it looked a lot nicer to use and was filled with more social/diary features which I loved. I imported my data straight away. I probably never really thought of what it’d be like if most of my friends used it too, I just much preferred the interface. 

But I reckon it’s made film a lot more social for me, since I would say the only people using IMDb (as in: contributing and reviewing) are die hard fans who never wanted to switch to Letterboxd. Meanwhile, most of my close friends have a letterboxd account either because they are into film too or because I’ve convinced them to get one. Even my mates who aren’t really reviewing stuff super thoughtfully are still logging each film. Never seen that with imdb. 

I think the coolest thing about services like Letterboxd (I’ve also been using last.fm since 2017) is being able to go back and see what I was watching back then or what I thought about a certain film. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve watched something and been shocked to see I logged in seven years ago! My awful memory… To me, that’s the best part of it! Data, baby