So, if you use social media as a reader, you’ve probably hear about Goodreads being bought by Amazon. I grant that Amazon’s monopoly is worrisome but I’m staying optimistic and sticking with goodreads.
If, however, you do want to jump ship, here are some alternatives I’ve heard about via Twitter or my own searching about:
- Appnewser has five suggested alternatives: http://www.mediabistro.com/appnewser/10-alternatives-to-goodreads_b33964
- Another alternative is BookLikes which does require an invitation (you request it right on the site) but I also heard it has a feature to import books from goodreads which is a plus.
- There’s also Riffle which is a very pretty site with lots of nice cover images. It’s in beta but you can sign up with your twitter or facebook accounts (yay no new passwords). Its big feature seems to be posting book lists. The only problem is it doesn’t have an option to post reviews or mark when a book was read which are two of the main reasons I use goodreads.
Similarly, for reasons that remain unclear to its legions of users, Google has decided to discontinue Google Reader. I’ve been hobbling along with WordPress’ reader feature which works for me since I don’t even have a Google account. BUT if you don’t have the wordpress option, here are some alternatives I’ve seen mentioned on Twitter and what not:
- The Digital Reader offers a rundown of the Google Reader shutdown along with some alternatives: http://www.the-digital-reader.com/2013/03/14/four-google-reader-alternatives-for-the-hard-core-user/#.UY7OfoLd41C
Miss Print 