Shelfari

Media, Identity & Connections

I’m in LA this week to attend the Economics of Social Media conference put together by our friends at PaidContent.org.  The show is about to kick off, but before it does, I’d like to share some thoughts from last night.  I decided to forgo last night’s meet and greet in favor of traveling to Pomona to see Indie darlings Blonde Redhead.  The show was in the ever-crowded Glass House, which serves nachos, pretzels, and candy bars... adding to its appearance as an 80s roller rink. 

As the show progressed, and the enchanting (if unintelligible) Kazu Makino continued to croon the entranced crowd, I glanced around to see my fellow concert goers.   What I saw was truly a motley crew.  A young, aspiring 50s librarian stood next to me, complete with ash cardigan on forest blouse.  Behind her was a beanpole in a vest with matching pants who was likely quite mistreated by classmates not too long ago.  The usual crowd of hipsters was also present, though a minority.  Then I opened my view to notice the broad array of concert goers, many of whom seemed to recognize each other from previous shows, noticed unlikely pairs exchanging glances of recognition. (This conjured up memories of when, as a young ethnographer, I interviewed avid fans at WWE's Smackdown.  When I inquired about a young man with a wispy beard and a sequined denim trench coat, my informant remarked, "oh yeah, him.  He's at all of these.")

So it's the media that brings people together.  The identity and passion for a work, an artist, a sound brings unlikely groups together.  People who otherwise would never have associated.  Groups who likely share more in common with their sweaty compatriots than the friends left at home. (Friend: Oh, he's going out with some blonde redhead, whatever that means.)  These people connect at shows around LA, then go their separate ways, hoping to see "gray cardigan on forest blouse" on Craigslist's Missed Connections. 

Enter Social Media: the class of web site that connects people through their affinity for media: music, movies, books, news, and so on.  While more people are currently finding friends and dates on MySpace than YouTube, look to see more of a shift as Social Media sites take off.  While I don't expect any "Shelfari is for Lovers" t-shirts to show up on my block any time soon, perhaps we can all find a few friends for stimulating conversations about the written word.

--Dave

New group features

As some of you noticed, we made some updates to our group pages last night.  The goal was to provide group members, those shopping for a group, and flat out voyeurs a quick overview of the group they are viewing. Who just joined?  What books just got added? What are people discussing?

We've already received some great feedback and kudos, and we appreciate it.  We read all feedback, so keep it coming!

Given that we've updated groups, I thought we would highlight some that are of interest to our users.

A Gathering of Goddesses

This active group reaches out to those who are "fully embracing [their] Divine Feminine or just awakening."  Last week, head goddess Paige Turner selected The Woman with the Alabaster Jar by Margaret Starbird for the group to read.  The response from the group was very positive. 

Eclectic Book Club

Members of this fun group talk about and share a wide variety of books, for those of us who just can't focus on a genre.  They describe themselves as an "online book club, where you can show up anytime, in your pj's (or not- no one need ever know)."  Discussion ranges from the very topical to discussions about puppies.  Group members are selecting the new book for May, so we'll see how democracy fairs among those who self-select as eclectic. 

Black Feminist/Womanist Literature

Jaya started this group in February and has assembled a set of smart participants take seriously their discussion of the topic.  Jaya says, "The group is inclusive of all genres and periods of literature.  The group is inclusive...period."  Sounds like an invitation to join if I ever heard one.

Can't wait to see what's next for our groups.  As always, keep telling us what you want.

--Josh

Music to Read to

I remember going to college and having to develop the 'skill' of multitasking while reading.  My freshman roommates were quite adept at studying while watching TV, listening to music, cavorting, or all three.  I seemed unable to sit in a cafe and study.  I jealously looked on and decided to set out to improve myself.

I started by listening to CDs while reading my American Heritage text that the prof updated slightly each year, forcing each freshman to purchase a new edition and destroying the used textbook market.  The subject matter was interesting, but the writing had a certain banality, so I thought it would be a great place to start.  Thus was born my love of reading with a soundtrack.

So I thought I'd share some playlists of great tunes that can sit back behind the prose and add just enough color.  Hopefully this is a regular posting and you will share your book soundtracks and playlists with us.

You can try playing these tunes on Rhapsody, my former employer and habitual love.

--Dave

Music to Read to.

1. Blowin' Bubbles - Call And Response
2. Caught In The Rain - Preston School of Industry
3. Billoddity - Mojave 3
4. Ooh La La - Faces
5. Trouble - Ray Lamontagne
6. Flying High - Jem
7. Superstition - Stevie Wonder
8. Rollerskate - Call And Response
9. Rodeo Clowns - G. Love and Special Sauce
10. Hide Abstract Jazz - Kruder & Dorfmeister

Search: Now with more searchiness

We've heard one or two (or perhaps it was hundreds) of you tell us that seaching on Shelfari could be... well... a bit snappier and perhaps a touch more relevant.  We heard and we acted.  We updated the site this weekend with lots of improvements to search that should make it a much more pleasant experience.

Kudos to Kevin B. for pushing this along and caring so very deeply about the quality of the results.  He really did put in some long hours to get it done, all while coaching the rest of us on how to assemble our disposable Swedish desks with the use of only one allen wrench (AMAZING!).

Friends, please do keep passing us notes on what we can do better.  Our aim is for you to fall deeply in love with the site, such that you can in no way control your emotions and must... must... must tell everyone you know about it.  Sounds like a great goal.

Your friends,

The Shelfari Team

We're Back! Bigger and Badder

It seems that we've been a bit silent on this blog, but we've been oh so busy.  We closed funding, moved to a new home, and cranked on some features coming your way soon.  So we're coming up for air.  Whew!  We also have some new arrivals.  Help us welcome our two newest team members: Tim and Dave.

First, Timothy Gray joined us as Director of Design. He found us through a posting we did on Authentic Jobs. We are THRILLED to have Tim join us. He has most recently been working as an independent consultant for Turner Sports on some properties you might recognize, PGA.com, NASCAR.com, PGATour.com and NBA. Tim brings more than 10 years of design experience working on top-tier websites. We look forward to the visible impact Tim will bring to our site. Tim is an avid hiker and we convinced him that the hiking was better here in Seattle than in Atlanta! :) While most of his reading is done online, he's got a soft spot for his childhood favorite, The Silver Chair. He made his way to Seattle with his cat “Bennet” (named by his wife, a Jane Austen enthusiast).

For those of you who know Ian and all of us who have enjoyed his great work over the last six months, he won't completely go away! He is still going to be giving us a hand and helping us out. We just couldn't convince him to join us here in our great new office in Seattle. (there was something about surfing and beach that we couldn't quite counter :) We owe Ian a great deal for getting us this far.

Next up, Dave Hanley joined us this week as the VP of Marketing. He brings with him a passion for making great products for consumers and a desire to tell everyone about Shelfari. I met Dave at RealNetworks, where he worked on developing and launching Rhapsody.com and Rhapsody’s web services program, among other things. In Dave’s “former life”, he spent a half a decade in economic development, working with poverty alleviation groups in Asia and Latin America, including a stint as a Fulbright scholar with Grameen Bank in Bangladesh. (I overheard that Muhammad Yunus of recent Nobel fame wrote Dave’s recommendations to grad school.) Dave will be working with each of you to make Shelfari a smashing success, so give him a shout and tell him what you think.  Dave likes to read classics to his 4-year-old daughter (though he forgot about the murders and lying in Tom Sawyer--this week's exploration) and works that explore political and social issues.

Help us welcome them and watch for what's to come.

Josh