Reading, once a largely private activity, has become more public and communal with the emergence of book-centred social media spaces. But while the “BookTok” and “Bookstagram” communities are often in the news, Goodreads, founded in 2006 and estimated to have 150 million users, was arguably the first digital network to focus on reading.
Goodreads, which has been owned by Amazon since 2013, invites users to track and share their reading – and their opinions – through ratings and reviews. They can see what’s popular with other readers, and easily follow friends’ reading. For now, Goodreads is the leading platform for tracking and sharing your reading.
