MySpace for Booklovers: Positive Uses of Social Media

LibraryThing is an online hangout worthy of raves from both parents AND teens, vaulting social networking into one of the most promising, useful and entertaining web applications I’ve seen in quite awhile.

It’s the literary equivalent of Flickr for photo-sharing or del.icio.us for bookmarks and tags. You can organize your library, rate, review, tag, add friends, meet new readers and engage in dialogue as public or private as you want your group to be.

Just as kids post music preferences on MySpace to share their styles and connect with peers, LibraryThing turns books into a highly personalized online literary identity with huge avenues for self-expression.

Reviewers sum, “5 random books say more about me than any profile ever could.”

Yep. I’d echo that. It reminds me of browsing someone’s personal library on a first date to see if you’re on the same page, or just attracted to the cover sleeve and bio…

Take a tour of the beta site. You’ll see the caliber of this tool goes far beyond book club potential. The young adult (YA lit) chat reveals a refreshing, inspiring snapshot of teens FAR removed from the hormonally-crazed monosyllabic mallrats we see in media images…

Right now privacy terms are “no children under 13,” but it sure seems natural to tweak ‘chat’ into adult moderation and open up a ready-made forum for preteen picks…

Middle schoolers are already eager to dip their toesies into the MySpace world of online texting so why not jump into literary waters as an alternative media venue?

Tweens could splash around without drowning by using LibraryThing as a plain ol’ book club device sealed off to school chums only.

Or, parents could blast it into the cybersphere to open up a global dialogue, exposing kids to views and experiences from all walks of life.

Envision ‘tween boy genres’ shared worldwide, a ‘mother-daughter’ book club juiced with blog capabilities, pen pal programs to experience slices of geopolitical friendship… school swaps, sister cities, niche youth groups, scouts, the opportunities are boundless to exchange ideas through shared reading.

All too often, people’s MySpace fixations slam social networking universally, with scare tactics winning out over positive uses of this media.

Parent paranoia then escalates in a textbook case of “fearing what you don’t know.”

I say…why not get to know it? You might get to know your child at the same time.

Here’s a 7 minute podcast about LibraryThing. YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) featured them as part of an excellent month long series on “Positive Uses of Social Networking.”

No time for audio? Understand.

Here’s a one-stop compilation of ALL 30 of YALSA’s “Positive Uses of Social Networking” in a handy dandy written pdf file.

Ironically, LibraryThing is not playing up their chat component as much as their intuitive ‘library’ technology.

True, it’s got an authoritative search capability, combing Amazon, the Library of Congress and 60 other world libraries to help you add your books to your virtual shelf by author, title or isbn number. But…

They’re branding themselves as an “online card catalog” …which seems way too esoteric and academically wonky for the average non-bookworm teen OR adult.

I prefer the MySpace for books moniker or even an amped up Amazon listmania idea that leverages the social media side meaningfully. (but then, no one asked me)

Amazon seems to also be dabbling with some new social media features, using a ‘friends’ list and ‘Plog’ format where readers can feedback with authors and such.

Unlike Amazon, LibraryThing takes out the e-commerce side, and that’s important when it comes to objectivity, recommendations, and even the ‘if you like this, readers also bought this’ algorithms.

Amazon’s recommendations also get polluted the minute you buy a few gifts or collect info on a couple of subjects. LibraryThing promises to be a more nuanced advisory tool, by factoring in the entire reading library over time, not just recent purchases or subject clusters.

They bluntly differentiate, “we care about books, not about selling books.”

Sounds like a wise marketing slam, but this is actually my favorite focus, since it takes bestseller lists and media critics out of the picture.

You can choose to focus on real people you know and their ‘lifetime choices’ plopped on virtual shelves.

That means teens and adults can discover peer to peer picks and arcane books of personal value without being led by the nose via ‘Oprah book selection’ or whoever has the PR bucks to pump up their book and land on the talk show circuit.

It puts media hype in its place and lets the cream rise to the top based on what teens themselves find to be relevant, valuable, and meaningful at this stage in their lives.

Media like this that encourages free thought based on meritocracy definitely gets my vote for Shaping Youth. After all, buzz marketing from a trusted friend trumps a snipe on a hardback any ol’ day.

Collaborative filtering weighted by your own respect and knowledge of whoever’s recommending the book is pure gold.

LibraryThing does have a ‘Group Zeitgeist’ section that spots shared books in people’s profiles and who’s reading what, but ideally, the concept here is to think for yourself and link with like-minded souls that enjoy uninhibited dialogue, curiosity, and sharing of views and interests.

I suppose some kids could try to ‘game it’ to appear smarter than they are for profiling purposes, but teens are adept at sniffing out phonies and silencing verbose, pain in the tush types that try to dominate forums.

It all equals out on the fairness front when kids use media like this, because they figure out what works and what doesn’t quite fast. This kind of web app is smart, fun, and wildly pragmatic so they’ll find their way with ease.

YALSA for example, links to teen librarian resources, banned book lists, QuickMuse for poetry, teen tech week podcasts, cool portals like Alternative Teen Services for blogs, wikis, chat, and LibraryThing’s own hilarious algorithm playtool.

The “Unsuggester” as they call it, turns the “people who like this also like that” notion on its head by pairing books LEAST likely to be shared on the same list. (actually, some of these “yougottabekidding me” spins are fairly useful for broadening one’s own worldview)

Example? If you liked Immanuel Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason” you will NOT like “Confessions of a Shopaholic.” Ahem. There are some doozies, trust me.

Their wry wit seeps out on their home page too, when they talk about their growth e.g. 1,000 special interest groups have formed, with 100,000 registered members, 7 million books sitting on virtual shelves, concluding:

“If the buzz page doesn’t convince you, you cannot be convinced. Go away.”

I could blather on about the ‘ease of use’ for sloppy minds like mine that hold too much data and can’t remember the full title or author’s name half the time. (no worries, this thing has some authoritative search chops; it’ll find it)

Or I could go on about the blog widget where you can export to your cell phone or import a pick in a local flea market find. Or marvel at the fact that it’s absolutely free to use if your library has under 200 titles. ($10/year allows you to add as many as you want, and $25 buys you lifetime access)

But then I’d begin to sound like an investor instead of an enthusiast, and sadly, I’m not.

Shaping Youth DOES always ‘follow the money trail’ as a sniff check to see who’s behind these great ideas, and for the record, this one has a 40% stakeholder in AbeBooks, an online company that connects independent booksellers and customers.

In sum, this is definitely a positive use of social media you’ll want to share with your teen. And since it’s still in beta, you may even have the jump on them…How cool is that?