Avid readers enjoy immersing themselves in a great story and then discussing the book with friends and other book lovers. From book clubs to reading groups, reading has always had a social element, and now social media is playing a role.

Book-themed social networks and digital groups are growing more popular, letting participants share good books, discuss great stories, and review the latest bestsellers. Here are six great book-centered social networks for avid readers to check out.

Goodreads

The goal of Goodreads is to help users find great books to read by suggesting new books based on titles they’ve already read or according to what their friends are reading. It also focuses on helping readers avoid books that simply wouldn’t suit them.

  • Over 90 million members.

  • Billions of books included on the site.

  • Lots of fun social communication within the book reviews area.

  • Easy to track and log books you’ve already read.

  • One of the best sites online to find new books to read.

  • The site can run slowly at times.

  • Infrequent functional updates to the website.

  • Some discussions may be unsuitable for younger children or teens.

Goodreads lets you build a list of your books, rate and review books, and find out what your friends are reading. Community features include a huge variety of groups to participate in, as well as discussions and an Ask the Author feature.

Another book-centered site, Shelfari, merged with Goodreads in 2016, so all Shelfari members were transitioned to Goodreads.

LibraryThing

  • Excellent for collecting and tagging book titles you’ve read.

  • Lists location-based local events for book lovers.

  • Provides you with booksellers where you can buy your title choices.

  • Smaller user base than Goodreads.

  • Recommendation engine is not as good as other sites.

  • Site design is outdated.

  • Limited to 200 books in your library for the free option.

There’s a huge array of groups to join and discussion forums to participate in, with an active, engaged community.

Catalog up to 200 books for free. Paid personal accounts cost $10 for a year or $25 for a lifetime. 

BookCrossing

BookCrossing is a book-based social network where members release books back into the public by leaving them on park benches, at the gym, or at school. One part social network and one part social experiment, BookCrossing lets you participate in giving back to the world of literature by passing on your favorite books. It’s a fun and interesting way to follow your book as it travels around your area, across the country, or maybe even to the other side of the world!

  • Been around since 2001.

  • Meet people from all over the world.

  • Users can remain anonymous for privacy.

  • Discussion forums aren’t as active as some sites on this list.

Social features include community forums, testimonials, recommendations, and more.

Litsy

Litsy is a book-centered social site and app that’s like a cross between Instagram and Goodreads. Litsy members can review, share, and discuss their favorite books as well as create and organize reading lists.

  • Lots of book reviews and photos.

  • Available as iPhone and Android apps.

  • Privacy settings for users.

  • Community isn’t as big as some of the others on this list.

The site’s social aspects include in-depth and passionate discussions of books as well as recommendations. Since everything is book-centered, you can find all posts concerning a book by searching on the title.

BookMooch

BookMooch is a community for exchanging used books for books you’d like to read. Every time you send someone a book (you pay the postage), you earn a point and can get any book you want from anyone else at BookMooch. Once you’ve read a book, you can keep it forever or put it back into BookMooch for someone else, as you wish. There’s the potential to interact with people all over the world!

  • Great for book sharing.

  • You can help charities.

  • No cost to join or use the site.

  • Not as much discussion as some of the other sites.

There’s a discussion forum with a plethora of topics to participate in, making this a great social site both online and offline.

Online Book Club

Just as the name implies, Online Book Club is an online book club where members can discuss favorite books, recommend books, and even write book reviews.

  • Completely free.

  • Large and active online community.

  • Great for connecting with other book lovers.

  • Not as large as Goodreads or some of the other sites on this list.

Its Bookshelves feature lets you store, track, and share the books you want to read, and book and reading forums have hundreds of thousands of welcoming members.

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