Thing 15: Goodreads vs. LibraryThing part 2

Similar to Goodreads is another site called LibraryThing.

LibraryThing, developed by Tim Spaulding, was meant to be a cataloging application. It allows you to create a profile where you can search and add books you have read, or would like to read; where you can find others who like the same genres as you, or find "real life" or online friends, as well.

Here's how LibraryThing differs from Goodreads: Because this social network site utilizes the library motif, they encourage you to 'catalog' your books, giving them not only ratings and reviews, but also tagging them with genres, subject headings, or simple tags.

When you view the page for a book title, you might notice a tag cloud, which is a visual design of the words used to describe an item. In a tag cloud, the predominant words are made larger than the rest of the test, visually displaying the importance, or popularity of a tag/term. source

LibraryThing has partnered with Amazon.com to pull book records, which you'll see when you search for or add books. You can choose where to search for titles beyond Amazon.com, including the Library of Congress.

A major difference between LibraryThing and Goodreads may not jump out at you. LibraryThing offers you a free account, but encourages you to upgrade to a paid account, the benefit being you can then add "as many books as you like." Goodreads, on the other hand, does not limit your book collection.

The BookSeer

Here is a fun site that utilizes LibraryThing!

Have you ever finished reading a book that you enjoyed and wanted to find a book similar to it? Well, check out http://bookseer.com! Use the speech bubble to type the title of the book and it's author, then click the arrow to see what Bookseer recommends next.

Now that you've seen both LibraryThing and Goodreads, which do you prefer? Do you like being able to see tag clouds for authors and books? What do you think about the free versus paid accounts? Include your thoughts in your blog entry for Thing 15.

For this Thing, start by checking out the Quick Start for LibraryThing. Take a few minutes to play around on LibraryThing, and don't forget to blog about it!

Optional: You can create an account for LibraryThing, then share the link on your blog.