Interesting, about quantifying social networks, making the previously nebulous much more visible. The social networks of the wealthy and powerful, the Old Boys and such, have always had a real presence, but the rest of us just had friends and acquaintances. Now we too have status based on measurable figures.
There are a handful of book-related social networking sites out there. I think they just haven't caught onto the right presentation to become as popular as a MySpace. Or it could be that people's reading interests are so varied, any ranking based on who is reading the same books you're reading will be unfulfilling unless everyone is reading the same bestsellers. A networking site based on a genre, or limited to an age category, might be more successful. Something specifically for kid-lit, that allows kids (or teachers or grownups who like the category) to keep lists of everything they're reading and share their reading lists and reviews with others, whether the books are novels, nonfiction, comics, in other languages, whatever they may be. And that also rewards, in some virtual way, those who read a lot or explore a lot of different types of books. (This paragraph may be a little incoherent, as I am trying to keep up with some sparks bouncing erratically around my brain trying to form into a solid idea.) I've seen a few kid-review sites here and there, but I don't think they are set up as a way to measure one's social/book networking. If something like this exists, I'd bet it would be focussed on a single publisher's titles, like, say, Scholastic, or TokyoPop might have something like it for manga. Time to go web surfing and see if anything broader exists yet, and, if not, see what it will take to make it so ;)
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Book networking
Date: 2007-12-15 05:20 pm (UTC)There are a handful of book-related social networking sites out there. I think they just haven't caught onto the right presentation to become as popular as a MySpace. Or it could be that people's reading interests are so varied, any ranking based on who is reading the same books you're reading will be unfulfilling unless everyone is reading the same bestsellers. A networking site based on a genre, or limited to an age category, might be more successful. Something specifically for kid-lit, that allows kids (or teachers or grownups who like the category) to keep lists of everything they're reading and share their reading lists and reviews with others, whether the books are novels, nonfiction, comics, in other languages, whatever they may be. And that also rewards, in some virtual way, those who read a lot or explore a lot of different types of books. (This paragraph may be a little incoherent, as I am trying to keep up with some sparks bouncing erratically around my brain trying to form into a solid idea.) I've seen a few kid-review sites here and there, but I don't think they are set up as a way to measure one's social/book networking. If something like this exists, I'd bet it would be focussed on a single publisher's titles, like, say, Scholastic, or TokyoPop might have something like it for manga. Time to go web surfing and see if anything broader exists yet, and, if not, see what it will take to make it so ;)