* Shelfari.com is a new service for reading-inflicted people
A new, free service for reading-afflicted people that caught my attention is Shelfari.com, produced by Tastemakers in collaboration with Amazon. The idea is simple: Provide a place where people can list the books in their libraries and then view each other’s collections, make comments about books, and generally indulge in literature-related social networking.
Pretty much everyone in my family is a compulsive reader. We’re the kind of people who, over breakfast with a newspaper, can be found reading the ingredients list on the back of cereal boxes.
The problem with compulsive reading is that you are forever on the hunt for new books, and while the likes of Amazon’s recommendations can be helpful it is really the recommendations of friends and family where you find the gems – the books that really satisfy and absorb you.
A new, free, and of course, still in beta service for us reading-afflicted people that caught my attention is Shelfari.com, produced by Tastemakers in collaboration with Amazon.
The idea is simple: Provide a place where people can list the books in their libraries and then view each other’s collections, make comments about books, and generally indulge in literature-related social networking.
The interesting thing about these kinds of niche market social networking services is that they tend to engage a more serious group of users (see another good example, HerOrbit, which I wrote about a few issues ago).
Shelfari provides features to encourage your friends to join and or simply view your collection (I have set up an account; you can view some of my books).
To add books you simply enter the title or author’s name and then add one or more titles from the search results to your “shelf.” The shelf is cute: It shows the book covers and allows you to add your books to any groups you belong to, add to your reading list, your wish list, or your top 10 list. You can also import from Amazon wish lists, Barnes & Noble new releases, blogs with books listed, and Amazon Listmania Lists.
Other Shelfari users can add notes to books on your shelf. You can create a customizable widget on Shelfari to add to your Web site or blog, to show what you’re reading, in either a graphical or text format.
I love this service. Not only can I find stuff that I might enjoy, but I can also use Shelfari to index my collection, something I’ve been meaning to do for a long time.
Sign up and add your books, then send me the link to your shelf. Let’s see what you think is worth reading … other than this newsletter.
