Social networks have been firmly established in our daily lives for years. If we dive a little, we can find one or more for almost any subject we want to address.
There are those related to sports, those designed for food lovers, and there is even a social network for people whose hobby is knitting and sewing (Ravelry).
Therefore, apart from the large platforms that currently dominate the majority of smartphones among the general population and address a wide variety of interests and topics in the different formats they offer (mainly Instagram and TikTok, without forgetting the millions of users who still regularly use Facebook and the now called X -formerly Twitter- ), there are several niches in which several social networks coexist with different functions and which normally complement each other.
Today we will focus on the world of literature, taking a quick look at six communities or platforms where readers are at the epicentre.
Goodreads
Possibly the most popular at the moment. On Goodreads you can find recommendations according to your tastes, follow other users and see what they are reading, as well as note down the books you read, provide reviews, participate in book clubs, set challenges, etc. Conceived for both die-hard and casual readers, there is little we can say about this well-known platform that hasn’t already been said. If you read, even if it’s only occasionally, it’s a must-have in every sense of the word.
Bookcrossing
According to its own website: “It is a global book club that crosses time and space. It is a reading group that knows no geographical boundaries.
From the outset, it doesn’t look bad at all, and there is no doubt that the premise is very original: have you liked a book so much or has it made such an impression on you that you want to give someone else the chance to read it? Then tag it, register it on the platform and “release” it wherever you prefer. Whether it’s in an emblematic place during that next trip you’re planning to take or on one of the benches in your favourite park in your city. You can leave your notes on the platform as you “release” it and follow the path it takes and the release notes that others have left. You can also go “on the hunt” for a specimen you want to get hold of by searching the platform for the last place where it was “released”.
Lecturalia
Along with Gooodreads, another great classic that cannot be missing from this list. Lecturalia is a platform where you can read, comment and give your opinion on your favourite books. With one of the most active communities of readers on the web, it has more than 110,000 books and 90,000 registered users.
WattPadd
There may be a bit of controversy here, since Wattpadd is a social network perhaps for writers as well as readers. In this case, writers (mostly new writers) upload their works so that the rest of the users can read them (usually for free). In addition, these users can vote among the different stories and comment on each chapter or even on a specific sentence within the chapter.
Undoubtedly, a social network to get started in the world of reading (or writing); especially popular among young people (according to a recent announcement on their website, 90% of their community belongs to generation Z).
Anobii
Anobii is a platform that allows you to create your own virtual library from the more than 11 million books and comics in its database. The high functionality when it comes to cataloguing books is perhaps its main strength, although, of course, it also allows you to discover new readings, share impressions and generate opinions about books with the rest of the community.
Storygraph
Today, it has emerged as one of the main alternatives to Goodreads. While Goodreads is essentially a yearly reading challenge, Storygraph takes challenges to another level. Users can join a reading challenge in a specific genre (detective or historical novels, for example), join joint readings, mark the books they have left half-read, etc. Although it does not have as extensive a catalogue as Goodreads, the reviews section is much more complete and, in addition, it has a series of graphs that show our reading habits (genre, number of pages, etc.) in a very illustrative way.
Of course, there are many other social networks and platforms based on the literary world and, like the previous ones, most of them have their corresponding app available for iOS and Android. The question is to find the one or ones that best suit the particular needs of each reader and to be able to share with others the best of those other wonderful worlds that hide behind the letters.
