I love books. Since you’re reading this blog I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that you love books too. So many books, so little time! Am I right?
If you’re like me, you don’t just like to read books; you like to talk about books with people who also like books. But sometimes it can be challenging to find other folks who have the same taste in books, or who have read the same book that you are dying to talk about. That’s where social media can come to the rescue. Now, I’m not talking about behemoths like Facebook or Twitter. You just get lost in the ads and political diatribes, and ain’t nobody got time for that.
Instead, here are some social media sites that are custom made for book lovers. Of course not every site is ideal for every reader, but I bet you can find one that is just right for you.
Happy reading.
- GOODREADS: The granddaddy of book social media sites. Yeah, it’s owned by Amazon (but, I mean, what isn’t?), but it’s still a great place for networking with like-minded readers, and it’s a great place for cataloging your book, and there are additional features like reading challenges and book giveaways to keep things interesting.
- LIBRARYTHING: Another old-timer, LibraryThing lets you catalog your books from Amazon, the Library of Congress, and nearly 5,000 other libraries. As an added bonus you can catalog your movies and music too. It’s a great place to find new books, talk about what you love with other bibliophiles, and maybe even snag a book from over 2000 early-release books every month.
- BOOKCROSSING: This site calls itself “the World’s Library.” This smart social networking site celebrates literature by encouraging readers to give their books new life. BookCrossing is the act of giving a book a unique identity so, as the book is passed from reader to reader, it can be tracked and thus connecting its readers. There are currently 1,901,341 BookCrossers and 13,356,341 books travelling throughout 132 countries. The BookCrossing community aims to change the world and touch lives-one book at a time.
- LITSY: Think of it as Instagram for books. Book reviews, book photos, social networking, only on your phone.
- BOOKMOOCH: Love books, but don’t love paying for books? BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books. BookMooch lets you give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you really want. Every time you give someone a book, you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you’ve read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish. There is no cost to join or use this web site: your only cost is mailing your books to others.
- RIFFLE: Riffle is a vibrant community of book lovers, lovingly made by committed book nerds since 2013. Rifflers are librarians, bloggers, educators, publishers, authors, booksellers, and avid readers who come together to share stories and celebrate books. Riffle inspires people to read more books by connecting them with librarians, avid readers, authors and deals on books they’ll love. Riffle believes books makes life better, and that the greatest recommenders of books are people, not computer algorithms.