SAN JOSE, Calif. – In the space of a day, Netflix Inc. seems to have transformed itself from one of the best-loved companies to one of the most hated – at least among thousands of its customers.

After the Los Gatos, Calif.-based DVD and streaming video company announced Tuesday it was raising rates as much as 60 percent, tens of thousands of disgruntled subscribers flooded social networking sites with complaints and threats.

“Sorry Netflix, but you’re losing another customer of many years,” read one of the more civil posts.

Thanks to sentiments like that, the price increase is beginning to look like the company’s first major misstep – and one that could damage its business as consumers consider alternatives.

One analyst said the company might be forced to retreat, but Netflix held its ground, with a spokesman comparing the rate increase to the cost of “a latte.”

Few customers bought that line. The comment section on Netflix’s own blog entry about the price change hit the maximum of 5,000 posts. On Netflix’s Facebook page, members have posted 60,000 – and counting – responses. And on Twitter, “Dear Netflix” soon emerged as one of the top trending topics.

Comments were overwhelmingly negative, with many users threatening to cancel their Netflix subscriptions if they hadn’t already.

To Fremont, Calif., resident Bob Marinace, 83, Netflix has long stood in stark contrast to the cable and satellite companies. Netflix offered a fair price for its service and, unlike the pay TV operators, wasn’t always raising its rates. But the price increase has changed his attitude toward the company.

“I think it’s a pretty dumb move,” said Marinace, a retired engineer. “They have to be blasted for what they’re doing.”

Netflix has raised rates before and still been able to post healthy growth in revenue and profits, noted Darren Chervitz, co-manager of the Jacob Internet Fund, which invests in technology companies. But this price change comes as Netflix faces increasing competition from the likes of Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and TV-streaming service Hulu, among others, he said.

“For them do this at this time strikes me as odd,” said Chervitz, whose fund owns shares of Netflix. “My initial reaction was, ‘They’re going to have withdraw this.’ “

Netflix wasn’t surprised by customer reaction and isn’t changing its mind, said company spokesman Steve Swasey. He declined to say how many customers have cancelled or downgraded their service in reaction.

“We knew there would be some folks that would not be pleased with the change in the price,” Swasey said. But he asserted that those unhappy with the change represent a minority of the company’s 23 million subscribers.

Netflix has a mail-order business that loans DVDs to subscribers and a streaming video service that allows subscribers to watch movies and TV shows instantly on PCs, smartphones and TVs.

When the company introduced the streaming video service, it offered it as an included feature on most subscription plans at no extra cost. Last November, though, it began offering a $7.99 streaming-only plan.

On Tuesday, Netflix announced it was separating its DVD and streaming video services. Subscribers who want to receive DVDs in the mail and access streaming videos will have to pay for those services separately. Instead of paying $9.99 to check out one DVD at a time and have access to streaming, customers will have to pay $15.98 – 60 percent more.

“What kind of business raises their price by 60 percent?” demanded one post on Facebook. “Right now would be a good time to … accept the flaw and listen to your customers.”

But Swasey maintained that the price increase was modest. “If that’s an extreme cost for you, I understand your need to cancel,” he said. “But for some people, $6 a month is a latte.”

The outrage could damage the company’s brand and business, said David Aaker, vice chairman of brand consulting firm Prophet. Word of mouth has always been important to companies’ images, but social networks have amplified consumers’ voices, he said. Netflix is particularly vulnerable because many of its customers are the same people who use social networks.

“This thing can explode,” he said.

But to other analysts, the online outrage was sound and fury, signifying nothing.

“It’s not going put a dent in the (23) million users that are happily using Netflix,” James McQuivey, a media analyst with technology research firm Forrester Research, said Wednesday.

Over Tuesday and Wednesday, Netflix’s stock rose 2.75 percent to $298.73. But on Thursday, it fell 4 percent to $286.62 on a day the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite fell 1.2 percent.

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