When I first started posting my thumbnail book reviews (2008?), it was on the website Visual Bookshelf. I was pretty excited about the website. It initially ran as a Facebook app, which I think they intended to expand out of but never did. It was listed as an affiliate of Living Social, the guys who have made a name for themselves as the main competitor of Tibet-mockers Groupon. Visual Bookshelf was actually the flagship program for Living Social, originally called Hungry Machine. Back then LS advertised itself as a sort of online social network geared specifically toward common interests, and in the beginning there were no deals- just sites to post and write about your interests and reviews. And probably buy your friends virtual cocktails, which provided none of the pleasure of a real cocktail, nor the warm feelings generally associated with real gifts of any kind.
Over the last few years things changed. While I was busy writing reviews and adding books to my online bookshelf along with a handful of friends, Living Social was busy changing their business model. Meanwhile, I noticed a handful of different friends were posting similiar book reviews on a different website, Goodreads. I debated what to do, wanting to absolutely maximize my online sharing (duh). Obviously I chose to join both sites. I wrote my reviews in the original VB, then copied and pasted them into copycat GR. Both programs interfaced with Facebook to allow me to post links to my reviews for 300 of closest friends who are dying to know what piece of steampunk fiction I had just finished. I posted both reviews, then went to FB to see which looked better and deleted the other link.
This went on for a year or two. But over time my original beloved Visual Bookshelf started to suffer some technical issues. It would re-route users to spam, often vicious spybots. Then it started crashing and the server would be down for hours, even days. Meanwhile Goodreads was steadily improving many of its functions and slowly gaining users. I was hardly suprised when I wandered onto a VB forum one day and found all of the posts ripping Bookshelf apart, and more than a few recommending Goodreads as a great alternative.
Then one day I noticed an ad in Facebook notifying people of a website to import their Visual Bookshelf collections to- while there is still time! 'Still time?', I wondered. I wandered over to the VB app only to find a letter to users slapped on the page instead of the usual website. You can see a version of that letter on the initial Visual Bookshelf link I posted. Basically, Living Social had shifted its focus into other areas of business (shocker) and rather than try to reallocate assetts into a website they had been ignoring pretty well and probably weren't going to start making money on anytime soon (despite an early affiliation with Amazon (the same kind I have on this blog (which similiarly does not make me any money))) they had decided to throw in the towel. I was only mildly suprised to see them straight-up recommending Goodreads as the most viable site to export your collection to. I was slightly miffed that there hadn't been an export option back when I re-created my account onto GR, but what was done was done and I understand the reasons why exporting may have been frowned upon back in the day.
In the end I'm happy, and think that even VB loyalists will be won over by GR's overall better features and technical excellence. I can only hope that Goodreads sustains a viable community and flourishes. There are a lot of people still grumbling about that 30-day issue. While VB did allow 30 days to export your collection before shutting down, they never did actually notify anyone. Folks who happened to not use the site recently, or who didn't happen to notice the news otherwise like me, and more importantly were people who had not backed up their collection and reviews... well, those people are plumb outta luck I guess. I understand Living Social's business priorities, but you can't tell me they couldn't afford the time and expense of sending out notifications to all users. That just seems like a bit of salt in the wound, and a bad piece of PR for a very public company.
Meanwhile, Google Offers is about to launch in most major cities, in an attempt to prove Google's dominance in all things internet. I have no problem admitting my own addiction to LS and Groupon's current deal systems, and I'm mostly happy with the experiences I purchase. Once GO starts offering deals in my city, I'll probably sign up. But will this power trio, combined with a hundred copycat systems, such as the one offered by the local newspaper company which I have also used with general satisfaction, oversaturate the market? Is it just a matter of time before the deals start to stink, or competition runs one of the companies to the ground? Do you, Dear Reader, use these bargain systems? What do you think is the future of the online deal industry? I anxiously await your replies.
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