Online Book Communities

This week we will be looking at online book communities. First you need to know what that is. This is just a group of people who share and recommend books. It is also a great way to track books you have read or want to read. A little better than Facebook, you connect with people who have something in common with you ---reading. So lets discuss a few of them now.

Goodreads
www.goodreads.com

Goodreads will be the first online book community I discuss. Initially the sign up is easy. The look and feel of the site is welcoming and easy to maneuver. I am impressed with how user friendly and quickly I can find and shelf books on my personal shelves. More importantly, I can create my own shelves to my liking. This makes the site extremely personal. The following are details of the site:

•  This site includes a picture of me. This makes it easy for my friends to know this is my site with my information.
• This section provides more information about myself. For example, I am a true BEARKAT!
• This section highlights some of my favorite books. This allows others to find a common connection. This is helpful when looking for common interests such as books.
• This section shows my friends. At this point, I have made friend requests but have not had any responses.
• This section shows people I am following. This gives the reader a clue of the authors I like hearing and reading about. Also, this provide another key to a connection.
• This section is my favorite part. This area allows the user to create personalized shelves. The user decides how they would like to classify books. The possibilities are endless. One word of caution, when creating shelves, others may be looking for common interest and could misunderstand the purpose of your shelf.

This photo shows some additional features:

• My overview. This gives me a summary of what is included in my catalog. I can quickly determine what I added and what categories I have included. This is a simple quick way to view what I have and where I am for my reading goals.
• A picture of the cover is always helpful in finding the book.
• My rating is how I would rate the book. This is helpful if I want to look for similar titles or titles by the same author. 
• The date added lets me know when I added the book to my personal catalog. This can help in the case of reading a series. Sometimes, it becomes difficult to keep track, in order, of series books. This will help the user keep them in order.
• Others ratings let you know what other people think. This can also expose other perspectives which leads to a better understanding of the book.

When looking at Goodreads overall, I can not imagine using another site. I am extremely pleased with the ease and appeal of this site. The navigation is easy to follow with a flow that makes sense. The site has a complete fluid feel. The graphics are visually attractive while the interactive rating system is fun. I enjoyed this site and would recommend this site to others.This site is easy for everyone.

Library Thing
www.librarything.com

 
Library Thing has a unique feel. I am not as impressed with the look and feel of the site. The site feels like a professional site. The site does not stimulate my senses or make me feel like I need to click through items. However, the site has great features. These features are exceptional for those who may spend lots of time on the site or maybe even a librarian. Here are some highlights to the site:

• Member name is at the top of the page. This makes searching for someone much easier. The only drawback would be not knowing someone's member name.
• A picture of me. This helps a user confirm if this is the person they are looking for.
• My personal collection allows other users to find common interests.
• Types of items in the collection allows you to pick music, books, and other media to review and catalog. This is a nice feature.
• The social groups are groups that you belong. The groups are additional ways to connect. This could be bad if a person is just joining and not really interested in the group. For the most part, I think people join groups they are interested.
• My blog is another way for people to find me. This allows me to promote library services and other.

These are some other great features.

• The widgets are helpful when posting on a blog or other social media. 
• The import feature is nice when adding several books.
• Sharing social sites saves lots of time and allows the user to interface with multiple social media sites. 

When looking at Library Thing overall, I am apprehensive about the site. The site is not for beginners. This site has an extreme about of details that would confuse the novice. This is a great site for a librarian as the information should not be so overwhelming. I would not recommend this site due to the fact this is an advanced site for people dedicated to social communities with specific interest in books.

Shelfari
www.shelfari.com

Shelfari is another fun and exciting site. The site is colorful and seeing your books on a shelf is motivating. The site does not require specific training or detailed research to understand the flow of the site. The navigation is fairly simple and easy to learn in a short amount of time. The site is balanced in terms of layout. Items are easily found. The site contains everything you would need. Here are some features of the site.

• The users name is at the top of the page. This makes finding people easy.
• The shelf is a virtual shelf. The arrows allow the shelf to turn. 
• Reinforces the importance of the site, you, your books and your groups.
• Powered by Amazon.

The most recognizable thing about this site - it is so similar to Facebook.

Overall when looking at Shelfari, I would have to say the site feels comfortable. The Facebook like features provide a sense of comfort. The user knows how to manage the site with little to no frustration. If the user has not used Facebook that sense of comfort may come from using Amazon. The site is not busy and the simplicity makes it a site of choice. I would recommend this site to any user. This site is simple, contains all the elements of social media, and still fun to use.

Booklikes
www.booklikes.com

The initial feeling for Booklikes was not good. The site feels cold with little to no graphics. I do not see a graphic of a book or anything that resembles reading. My first reaction was this was a site for conservation. I almost want to change my profile picture to a book. While the site has few items on the dashboard the layout causes confusion as where to click next. Here are some features of the site:

• The site does have daily deals to purchase books
• The search button is located in an easy to find location.
• There is a "Facebook" feel without the graphics added.
• The site is simple.

When previewing "your shelf" the colors on the covers do break up some of the monotone colors. The site does compete with other sites as offering many of the same features.

Overall, I would not recommend Booklikes to users. The site might be good for a user that is not interested in "fluff." This might be the person who enjoys this site. Maybe a brand new user may enjoy this site as well. With so many other options available, I would put this site at the bottom of the list.


Biblionasium
www.biblionasium.com
  

Lastly, I want to look at Biblionasium. This is a great site for teachers and students. I love the colorful home page with all the graphics. The minute this page loads the user has to smile. This site is welcoming and inviting. I just want to click away. This site is a great tool for classroom teachers to encourage reading. Some of the features include:

• Ability to create multiple groups.
• Maintain your own shelf for personal items.
• Set challenges for your students.
• Purchase books.
• Even receive news from outside individuals.
• The site goes as far as providing links to additional resources.

The site allows the user to add a class and manage activities within the class. The students can even create reviews to share with others.

I would recommend this site to educators and parents who want to push their students/children to read. I envision kids actively engaging in a site that is graphically appealing and easy to navigate. The site is fun. The colorful book covers on the virtual shelf add to the appeal of this site. I would highly recommend this site for those reasons.

In summary, I believe online book communities are no different than other social media sites. The key is finding something that speaks to you personally. Some individuals may want lots of features and the ability to personalize. For those people, I would recommend Goodreads and Shelfari. I would lean more toward Goodreads as this is a popular site and familiar to lots of people. The purpose of the online community is to communicate and Goodreads does a great job getting the word out. For a user that wants simple and no frills, I might recommend Booklikes. Personally, I would not be interested in this site at all. For the person who understands books and is a professional I would recommend Library Thing. This site is full of information and lacks nothing to be desired.

I found most of the sites offer the same things.

• Profile picture
• Profile name aka screen name
• Email required
• Book searches
• Rating system
• "Shelf" for books
• Widgets to add to blogs
• Ability to join groups
• Ability to add friends
• Ability to see update from friends
• Ability to communicate with others

However, some sites are easier to navigate than others. Some sites are visually more appealing than others. Some sites just feel more comfortable. When picking your online book community I suggest you try a few. Find the one that feels right and stick to joining groups and adding friends. Many of these sites do link together which provides access to even more connections. Try to link as many as you can. This can be time consuming if you join all of them and try to be active with everyone. For some people they have the time. For others, time is too precious. The one thing I do know, if you never join one you will never know what an online community feels like. So go ahead and give it a try!