Shelfari
Encyclopedia
Shelfari is a social cataloging
website for books. Shelfari users build virtual bookshelves of the titles they own or have read, and can rate, review, tag
, and discuss their books. Users can also create groups that other members may join, create discussions, and talk about books, or other topics. Recommendations can be sent to friends on the site for what books to read.
Shelfari was launched on October 11, 2006. In February 2007, Amazon.com
invested $1 million in Shelfari, and moved to acquire it a year later in August 2008.
s and the latter never joining the company full time. The site sought to create a social networking service that met the needs of avid readers. This strategy may have mirrored a trend during this time period of creating niche social networks such as social movie site Flixster
. Once Shelfari received its first equity fund raise in early 2007 and moved to acquire it a year later in August 2008., the company grew to five employees, including software developer Kevin Durdle, designer Timothy Gray, and VP of marketing Dave Hanley. In August 2008 the company was acquired by Amazon.com, also a Seattle, Washington company, and the team was integrated into the book technology group. Shelfari continues to function as an independent book social network within the Amazon.com family of sites.
The Shelfari catalog may be edited by users, though some changes must be approved by Shelfari "librarians." Using wiki functionality users may edit each book's authors, title, publication data, table of contents, first sentence, and series. Users may also combine redundant books into a single entry or add new titles not found in the catalog. Similar to books, author pages may be edited or created. In addition to general catalog maintenance, users are encouraged to contribute reviews, descriptions, lists of characters and settings, author biographies, categories, and descriptive tags.
Most books in the Shelfari catalog come from the large Amazon catalog, including Amazon Marketplace listings added by independent resellers. These books link back to Amazon and display current pricing and links to AbeBooks
for used book sales.
Shelfari has a group creator, which allows you to talk, play, or discuss your books.
by Tim Spalding, the creator of LibraryThing
, a competing social networking book site. In a comment on another blog critical of Shelfari (primarily criticizing the "invitations" system), Josh Hug, the CEO, blamed the astroturfing on an intern not knowing better, and said that it had stopped.
Social cataloging applications
A social cataloging application is a web application designed to help users to catalog things—books, CDs, etc.—owned or otherwise of interest to them...
website for books. Shelfari users build virtual bookshelves of the titles they own or have read, and can rate, review, tag
Tag (metadata)
In online computer systems terminology, a tag is a non-hierarchical keyword or term assigned to a piece of information . This kind of metadata helps describe an item and allows it to be found again by browsing or searching...
, and discuss their books. Users can also create groups that other members may join, create discussions, and talk about books, or other topics. Recommendations can be sent to friends on the site for what books to read.
Shelfari was launched on October 11, 2006. In February 2007, Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
invested $1 million in Shelfari, and moved to acquire it a year later in August 2008.
History
Shelfari was founded by RealNetworks alumni Josh Hug, Kevin Beukelman, and Mark Williamson under the name Tastemakers Inc., the former two being software developerSoftware developer
A software developer is a person concerned with facets of the software development process. Their work includes researching, designing, developing, and testing software. A software developer may take part in design, computer programming, or software project management...
s and the latter never joining the company full time. The site sought to create a social networking service that met the needs of avid readers. This strategy may have mirrored a trend during this time period of creating niche social networks such as social movie site Flixster
Flixster
Flixster is a social movie site allowing users to share movie ratings, discover new movies, learn about movies, and meet others with similar taste in movies. The site allows users to view movie trailers as well as learn about the new and upcoming movies in the box office. The site is based in San...
. Once Shelfari received its first equity fund raise in early 2007 and moved to acquire it a year later in August 2008., the company grew to five employees, including software developer Kevin Durdle, designer Timothy Gray, and VP of marketing Dave Hanley. In August 2008 the company was acquired by Amazon.com, also a Seattle, Washington company, and the team was integrated into the book technology group. Shelfari continues to function as an independent book social network within the Amazon.com family of sites.
Features
Shelfari promotes its "virtual bookshelf" as one of its main features. The virtual bookshelf displays covers of books which the user has entered, with popups to show the user's book information (review, rating, and tags). Sorting by author, title, date, rating, or review is available to the viewer of the shelf. Users may organize books into different shelves, including already read, currently reading, planning to read, wish list, currently owned, and favorites.The Shelfari catalog may be edited by users, though some changes must be approved by Shelfari "librarians." Using wiki functionality users may edit each book's authors, title, publication data, table of contents, first sentence, and series. Users may also combine redundant books into a single entry or add new titles not found in the catalog. Similar to books, author pages may be edited or created. In addition to general catalog maintenance, users are encouraged to contribute reviews, descriptions, lists of characters and settings, author biographies, categories, and descriptive tags.
Most books in the Shelfari catalog come from the large Amazon catalog, including Amazon Marketplace listings added by independent resellers. These books link back to Amazon and display current pricing and links to AbeBooks
Abebooks
AbeBooks is an online marketplace for books. Most books listed are used, many are rare or out-of-print, and a growing number are new books. The company is based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, with offices in Düsseldorf, Germany, and in the US. It was incorporated in 1995 and launched its...
for used book sales.
Shelfari has a group creator, which allows you to talk, play, or discuss your books.
Criticism
Shelfari has received bad press for its "Invite Friends" page. Jesse Wegman, writing in The New York Observer in October 2007, complained that because he had "accidentally failed to uncheck the approximately 1,500 names in my Gmail address book that Shelfari had helpfully pre-checked", the system caused invitations to be sent, contrary to his intentions but "ostensibly" from his own address, to his entire network of contacts. In November 2007, Shelfari was accused of astroturfingAstroturfing
Astroturfing is a form of advocacy in support of a political, organizational, or corporate agenda, designed to give the appearance of a "grassroots" movement. The goal of such campaigns is to disguise the efforts of a political and/or commercial entity as an independent public reaction to some...
by Tim Spalding, the creator of LibraryThing
LibraryThing
LibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by individuals, authors, libraries and publishers....
, a competing social networking book site. In a comment on another blog critical of Shelfari (primarily criticizing the "invitations" system), Josh Hug, the CEO, blamed the astroturfing on an intern not knowing better, and said that it had stopped.
See also
- GoodreadsGoodreadsGoodreads is a privately run "social cataloging" website started in December 2006 by Otis Chandler, a software engineer and entrepreneur. The website permits individuals to sign up and register books to create their library catalogs and reading lists. It also allows users to create their own...
- LibraryThingLibraryThingLibraryThing is a social cataloging web application for storing and sharing book catalogs and various types of book metadata. It is used by individuals, authors, libraries and publishers....
- BookarmyBookarmyBookArmy was a social networking website and book recommendation tool for readers, owned by HarperCollins. BookArmy was launched in February 2009, and closed in December 2010....
- aNobiiANobiiAnobii is a social networking site aimed at readers. It was acquired by a new venture backed by HMV Group, Harper Collins, Penguin and Random House in 2010 from a private company owned by Greg Sung, based in Hong Kong....
- List of social networking websites
- Virtual communityVirtual communityA virtual community is a social network of individuals who interact through specific media, potentially crossing geographical and political boundaries in order to pursue mutual interests or goals...