September 24, 2008 at 11:08Runet book networks: user view
The reason for writing this article was the emergence of another service among the book social networks, and the desire to put in order thoughts on this topic. In general, there are already quite a lot of social networks in RuNet, but they do not stop appearing and finding their users. I tried many, but did not show activity in all, and only a few remained until now.
My addictions to books and everything-around-them make me try and use services related to books directly. Therefore, I am registered in all (currently known to me) Russian book social networks.
It just so happened that I communicate with all the creators of such services (almost all are friends online). I can’t say that I somehow strongly participated in the work and development of this or that project, but I was consulted a couple of times. And I'm trying to find the best service for myself. But, perhaps, I will tell everything in order ...
In 2006, I met with Reader 2 (the project itself appeared in 2005 - it turns out that it is the oldest), which allows you to create online lists of books you have read and look for something new to read. I registered there and even posted a list of 43 books, wrote several reviews. However, something did not work out with us, and I stopped using this service. The most useful thing in this service is the ability to export a list of read books. Unfortunately, only in text format, but already something.
Then I discovered LiveLib . The project appeared in February 2007, it was then that their blog posted the first entry telling about the idea of the project, and in March Anatoly Tikhomirov and his comrades opened the network for public testing.
At the moment, on LiveLib I have compiled the largest list of books I have read. What makes this list good is that you can restore the reading history — what and when. You can evaluate books, however, with only three meanings - I recommend, neutral, did not like it - and this is not enough to express the full range of emotions. Service does not stand still, functionality is added. And now you can add reviews, put a link to the source (it is understood that it will be on your personal blog, and not on someone else's thought). From the very beginning, it seems, books could be purchased at Ozon.ru; Now you can try to find the electronic version of the book and add a volume to your wishlist.
LivelibIt possesses, probably, the largest user base and constantly increases it (to which contests with good prizes contribute a lot). In general, this seems to be the only project that has an investor.
It is quite difficult to judge how many “dead souls”, the so-called virtuals, are in the project, but there are many of them ( even the creators themselves wrote on this subject ). "Live" users can chat in the project forum. As for the blog, unfortunately, no one is engaged in it right now. And LiveLib is by far the only network that offers users to post a widget on their blogs (by the way, in two versions - the code of the first one can be set up directly on the website and copied to your blog, and the second version is implemented as a WordPress plugin).
At the same time, in April 2007, I found Imho.net advisory service . At that moment, as I recall, it was possible to evaluate only books, but this process did not captivate me. In total, I was able to evaluate 17 books and added one review, after which I stopped using the service.
Today, in this network, you can evaluate not only books, but films, performances, TV shows, games, music, radio, architecture and even wine ... (This is similar to Reader2’s desire to become part of the “global plan to capture the world”: it is related to projects MyFilmz - social movie list, MyProgs - social program list, TagFacts - social knowledge base, Bank of Ideas - social list of ideas.)
Standing apart is the X-Libris book project . The project appeared in February 2007 and works on the principle of social news aggregators. The user adds books, their descriptions, reviews, links to electronic versions and everything that they consider necessary, and the community already votes “liked / disliked” and thus regulates the rating of a book. His condition seems to be stable - they use the service, but further prospects for me are not clear. At the very beginning, I added four books, after which I stopped using the service.
In December 2007, we (me and my blog) began to cooperate with the My Books service (then it was still called Book Exchange) This is not quite a book network; this is a hybrid of bookcrossing and a bookstore, you can exchange, give or sell an unnecessary (there are such!) book or buy some rare edition. Alexander Druzhkov does not quit the service and is constantly working on it, as evidenced by at least a recent review in Internet features .
In June 2008, I met BookRiver , a service that combines the ideas of bookcrossing and the simple exchange of unnecessary books. I do not exchange books, I do not throw them out. I will not say that he is greedy, but I rarely give books to friends. And therefore, my use of the site did not go beyond registration. ( Probably, for the same reason, I do not participate in the movement of bookcrossers. )
In September 2007, I interviewed the guys from the Book network in my hands . Konstantin Fedorov (the author of the project) talked about the imminent launch, but only started this summer, and so far only in the closed version, since testing and debugging continues. The highlight of the project should be the Open Book, which will be written jointly by all interested users. How much this "shoots" - time will tell. The creators also call the unique groups Groups, where you can communicate according to interests, and Collections, where you can compose to add various thematic tapes.
Quite a long time waiting for the launch, and talking a lot with one of the developers of the book in hand(with Bones), I got the right to be the first to indulge in the service. I immediately realized that I lacked the ability to import my books from other services. The guys went to a meeting and added some of the books for me. Thank you very much for that. But still it would be great to download books as a list or try to “pull” them using RSS from another service, for example, from the same LiveLib, where a list of books can be displayed for printing. And tags, ratings or reviews with comments are not even important - the main thing is just a read list; it's so lazy to add books with pens.
In December last year, My library was launched , the start of this project was also postponed for quite some time by Anatoly Larin. All the same: books, readers, writers, ratings; but here already there are news and various interesting facts from the world of literature that are drawn from various sources - a significant plus for active users. A feature of the system should be a recommendation system based on the principle of collaborative filtering (however, I recommend books that are not quite in my taste, but it seems that for a better coincidence of interests, more books should be noted and appreciated).
My libraryWhat distinguishes it from others is the very convenient interface for adding books and the absence, unfortunately, of the ability to sort books - all books are displayed in alphabetical order. As far as I can tell, this book network is in second place after LiveLib in terms of number of users and attendance. (I do not take into account IMHO.net as it is not a purely book service).
And in September of this year, I learned about another book network - Bookmix . Having met , I realized that I like the service. I will not say that it is perfect and completely satisfies me, but strives for perfection. And I'm ready to switch to it if, as the creators promise, the import function will be implemented (for some reason I’m inclined to trust them, because all my requests and the wishes of other users were realized in the shortest possible time *).
In Bookmix there is no ranking of read books in time, but there is sorting by various parameters ( moreover, it was done when we, the users, asked about it) There is no forum, but there are well-implemented groups. There is a news feed that users form themselves. Everything is in place - different ratings for books and reviews (you can write “essays” and get ratings from users; your rating will increase or decrease, like karma on Habré — everything is in the hands of users). A little pleasantness that others do not have yet is the status of the user “I am reading ...” **. In general, I can say that now this service makes me happy.
I note right away that there are still Western networks - GoodReads and Shelfari . But they will remain outside the scope of this article, because I, although registered there, absolutely did not use them. Both services have the ability to import either from a prepared file; for example, GoodReads supports the xls, csv and txt formats ( Shelfari is only txt, but from here you can download your list in xls), or from the online list (the list should be accessible without a password), supported are wish lists, for example, from Amazon.com. In addition, GoodRead offers its users two plugins - one for the browser to work with Amazon, the second for the popular WordPress platform - for displaying a list of books on the blog.
In conclusion, I want to say that we, the users, have a choice, it cannot but be. But what to choose, everyone already decides for himself. The main thing, it seems to me to like, is not it?
* - already being tested.
** - a widget is being developed.
UPD Thank seozybr for the reminder about BukRiver .
The original article is on my blog ( part 1 , part 2 ), and differs only in a large number of links.
My addictions to books and everything-around-them make me try and use services related to books directly. Therefore, I am registered in all (currently known to me) Russian book social networks.
It just so happened that I communicate with all the creators of such services (almost all are friends online). I can’t say that I somehow strongly participated in the work and development of this or that project, but I was consulted a couple of times. And I'm trying to find the best service for myself. But, perhaps, I will tell everything in order ...
How it all began
In 2006, I met with Reader 2 (the project itself appeared in 2005 - it turns out that it is the oldest), which allows you to create online lists of books you have read and look for something new to read. I registered there and even posted a list of 43 books, wrote several reviews. However, something did not work out with us, and I stopped using this service. The most useful thing in this service is the ability to export a list of read books. Unfortunately, only in text format, but already something.
Then I discovered LiveLib . The project appeared in February 2007, it was then that their blog posted the first entry telling about the idea of the project, and in March Anatoly Tikhomirov and his comrades opened the network for public testing.
At the moment, on LiveLib I have compiled the largest list of books I have read. What makes this list good is that you can restore the reading history — what and when. You can evaluate books, however, with only three meanings - I recommend, neutral, did not like it - and this is not enough to express the full range of emotions. Service does not stand still, functionality is added. And now you can add reviews, put a link to the source (it is understood that it will be on your personal blog, and not on someone else's thought). From the very beginning, it seems, books could be purchased at Ozon.ru; Now you can try to find the electronic version of the book and add a volume to your wishlist.
LivelibIt possesses, probably, the largest user base and constantly increases it (to which contests with good prizes contribute a lot). In general, this seems to be the only project that has an investor.
It is quite difficult to judge how many “dead souls”, the so-called virtuals, are in the project, but there are many of them ( even the creators themselves wrote on this subject ). "Live" users can chat in the project forum. As for the blog, unfortunately, no one is engaged in it right now. And LiveLib is by far the only network that offers users to post a widget on their blogs (by the way, in two versions - the code of the first one can be set up directly on the website and copied to your blog, and the second version is implemented as a WordPress plugin).
At the same time, in April 2007, I found Imho.net advisory service . At that moment, as I recall, it was possible to evaluate only books, but this process did not captivate me. In total, I was able to evaluate 17 books and added one review, after which I stopped using the service.
Today, in this network, you can evaluate not only books, but films, performances, TV shows, games, music, radio, architecture and even wine ... (This is similar to Reader2’s desire to become part of the “global plan to capture the world”: it is related to projects MyFilmz - social movie list, MyProgs - social program list, TagFacts - social knowledge base, Bank of Ideas - social list of ideas.)
Not like others
Standing apart is the X-Libris book project . The project appeared in February 2007 and works on the principle of social news aggregators. The user adds books, their descriptions, reviews, links to electronic versions and everything that they consider necessary, and the community already votes “liked / disliked” and thus regulates the rating of a book. His condition seems to be stable - they use the service, but further prospects for me are not clear. At the very beginning, I added four books, after which I stopped using the service.
In December 2007, we (me and my blog) began to cooperate with the My Books service (then it was still called Book Exchange) This is not quite a book network; this is a hybrid of bookcrossing and a bookstore, you can exchange, give or sell an unnecessary (there are such!) book or buy some rare edition. Alexander Druzhkov does not quit the service and is constantly working on it, as evidenced by at least a recent review in Internet features .
In June 2008, I met BookRiver , a service that combines the ideas of bookcrossing and the simple exchange of unnecessary books. I do not exchange books, I do not throw them out. I will not say that he is greedy, but I rarely give books to friends. And therefore, my use of the site did not go beyond registration. ( Probably, for the same reason, I do not participate in the movement of bookcrossers. )
In the role of catching up?
In September 2007, I interviewed the guys from the Book network in my hands . Konstantin Fedorov (the author of the project) talked about the imminent launch, but only started this summer, and so far only in the closed version, since testing and debugging continues. The highlight of the project should be the Open Book, which will be written jointly by all interested users. How much this "shoots" - time will tell. The creators also call the unique groups Groups, where you can communicate according to interests, and Collections, where you can compose to add various thematic tapes.
Quite a long time waiting for the launch, and talking a lot with one of the developers of the book in hand(with Bones), I got the right to be the first to indulge in the service. I immediately realized that I lacked the ability to import my books from other services. The guys went to a meeting and added some of the books for me. Thank you very much for that. But still it would be great to download books as a list or try to “pull” them using RSS from another service, for example, from the same LiveLib, where a list of books can be displayed for printing. And tags, ratings or reviews with comments are not even important - the main thing is just a read list; it's so lazy to add books with pens.
In December last year, My library was launched , the start of this project was also postponed for quite some time by Anatoly Larin. All the same: books, readers, writers, ratings; but here already there are news and various interesting facts from the world of literature that are drawn from various sources - a significant plus for active users. A feature of the system should be a recommendation system based on the principle of collaborative filtering (however, I recommend books that are not quite in my taste, but it seems that for a better coincidence of interests, more books should be noted and appreciated).
My libraryWhat distinguishes it from others is the very convenient interface for adding books and the absence, unfortunately, of the ability to sort books - all books are displayed in alphabetical order. As far as I can tell, this book network is in second place after LiveLib in terms of number of users and attendance. (I do not take into account IMHO.net as it is not a purely book service).
And in September of this year, I learned about another book network - Bookmix . Having met , I realized that I like the service. I will not say that it is perfect and completely satisfies me, but strives for perfection. And I'm ready to switch to it if, as the creators promise, the import function will be implemented (for some reason I’m inclined to trust them, because all my requests and the wishes of other users were realized in the shortest possible time *).
In Bookmix there is no ranking of read books in time, but there is sorting by various parameters ( moreover, it was done when we, the users, asked about it) There is no forum, but there are well-implemented groups. There is a news feed that users form themselves. Everything is in place - different ratings for books and reviews (you can write “essays” and get ratings from users; your rating will increase or decrease, like karma on Habré — everything is in the hands of users). A little pleasantness that others do not have yet is the status of the user “I am reading ...” **. In general, I can say that now this service makes me happy.
What do they have?
I note right away that there are still Western networks - GoodReads and Shelfari . But they will remain outside the scope of this article, because I, although registered there, absolutely did not use them. Both services have the ability to import either from a prepared file; for example, GoodReads supports the xls, csv and txt formats ( Shelfari is only txt, but from here you can download your list in xls), or from the online list (the list should be accessible without a password), supported are wish lists, for example, from Amazon.com. In addition, GoodRead offers its users two plugins - one for the browser to work with Amazon, the second for the popular WordPress platform - for displaying a list of books on the blog.
In conclusion, I want to say that we, the users, have a choice, it cannot but be. But what to choose, everyone already decides for himself. The main thing, it seems to me to like, is not it?
* - already being tested.
** - a widget is being developed.
UPD Thank seozybr for the reminder about BukRiver .
The original article is on my blog ( part 1 , part 2 ), and differs only in a large number of links.