GoodReads, a social network for book lovers, is adding the increasingly ubiquitous status update feature to its site. Taking a page out of Twitter’s book, GoodReads asks not “What are you doing,” but rather, “What page are you on?” Once you’ve answered that question, you can also input your current thoughts on a given book in 140 characters or less.
Status updates will be displayed throughout GoodReads, which in turn serves as both a way to read microreviews and also discover other people who are reading the same things as you. For instance, each book’s page will feature recent status updates from members, with the homepage featuring a Facebook News Feed-like display showing recent activities of your GoodReads friends, including their latest status updates.
GoodReads has been on a healthy growth trajectory since launching in early 2007. The site now has more than 1.5 million users who have added more than 30 million books – up significantly from the 5 million books users had added around this time last year. Unique visitors are also up sharply according to data from Compete:
So are microreviews likely to be the next big little thing on niche social networks? The GoodReads integration certainly makes a lot of sense, and given the number of Tweets declaring that “Tropic Thunder was hilarious!” or “the new Zune is sooooo cool” (ok I made that one up) there would certainly seem to be an opportunity to increase engagement by adding targeted status update features.
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