Friday, July 24, 2009

My Suggestions for Visual Bookshelf

I'd rather you brought something to the picnic instead of moving the picnic... you know what I mean? In other words, I have this huge, fantastic list of friends (real and virtual) that have all identified themselves as being in a particular location, so let's take better advantage of it.

Here are the suggestions that I sent to LivingSocial for their VirtualBookshelf application on Facebook:
  • Create a radio button for "Would like to give it away."
  • Allow me to see those friends in my area that own a book that's in my "Want to read" list and vice versa.
  • If none of my friends want to read a book I'm willing to give away, then allow me to post it to a bulletin board in the area or suggest people I don't know that are local and have that book in their "Want to read" list.
  • Allow me to rank my "Want to read" list so that it's easy for me to grab the books at the top of my list when I want to order online or when I'm in the bookstore.
Several of you have suggested BookCrossing, but I have a hard time getting into it... mostly because there don't seem to be many users in the Kansas City area; no critical mass. And, as I said in the beginning, why move the picnic?