I recently scrolled past a video on YouTube where a woman complained about Goodreads. Her complaints seemed to boil down to it being old, ugly, and uninnovative. To me, those are the only good parts of Goodreads.
Increasingly, I want lower tech ways of tracking and sharing things. After trying Goodreads and a couple of the offerings marketing themselves as Goodreads replacements, I realized I don’t need a social media site about books. I get book recommendations by talking to people, at bookstores, out and about, through book clubs—Goodreads recommendations were garbage for me, anyway. I recently stopped adding numerical ratings to books I’ve read, because I don’t think it’s a very useful measure. Often times, I don’t agree with my own ratings!
My “to be read” list takes the form of a pile in my bedroom. My reading log is my blog.
The one advantage Goodreads has over my system is that I can write and publish thoughts on a book from my phone. This isn’t something I care about, though. If I finish a book while out, I write my thoughts on the back cover or in a note in my writing software, and post it later.
This is kind of an aimless essay. I think the lesson here is that, for a lot of people, these social media platforms with a listing function tacked on are not actually catering to their needs profile. You don’t need fancy software or an account or even a computer to keep a list. I find that walking to the bookstore and talking with friends provides me with more than enough (too much) to read, anyway. The same goes for restaurants, movies, music.
Ask your friends what they’re reading, watching, eating and listening to, you’ll probably find something great—or that you have boring friends, either way, an important discovery!
— 16:50