Social Networking Around Books
Following up on yesterday’s post, I was trying to show my Mum how interesting this whole InterWeb thingy is. I’d love her to be one of the senior bloggers, but she has flatly refused! She’s in her 70′s mind, and has only recently taken to moving towards the screen. Before she used to stand a good 5 metres away while calling out possible dates for flights, so we have come a long way.
Me: Name a subject, anything at all, and you’ll find people blogging about it.
Mum: [blank expression]
Me: What’s your most favourite thing to do?
Mum: You know that love, reading. I love to read.
Me: Right – watch this…
And off I went on a search for her favourite author’s blogs. No, didn’t find any. But I did remember this site – GoodReads - and whilst perusing the line-up at Reboot, I came across this site by John Buckman called Bookmooch.
Bookmooch is a great idea. It’s a community for exchanging used books. I read recently that numbers to the public libraries fall off during periods of economic boom because we all prefer to buy books. But haven’t we all succumbed to the 4 for 3 offers, and ended up with books on our shelves that aren’t quite classics? I have only re-read a book once in my entire life and was disappointed the second time (“The Master & The Margarita, Bulgakov). So the idea of Bookmooch is that you load up the titles of 20 books you’d like to get rid of, and other users can request them. Visit the site.
Goodreads is more social networking. You create a profile and write reviews of books you’ve read and load up what you’re currently reading. [Am I weird? I read one at a time]. It’s a great way of getting ideas of what to read next, and of course voicing your opinion. Visit the site.
I think Bookmooch is a better idea; has legs. But the design of Goodreads is more compelling. Either way, isn’t it wonderful that we’re now being offered more online than just the opportunity to buy buy buy?