I am getting to that age of being just past the age of being able to stay abreast of the latest “thing.” I know this because I do not know the answer to the question, “Is Facebook already passé?” But when I asked a friend who works at Wired whether these social networking sites were still in fashion, he responded with a confident affirmative and recommended I take a look at Good Reads, a relative newcomer to the genre.
Like all social networking sites, Good Reads allows you to invite friends, screen potential friends, investigate new friend options, keep tabs on friends who are already your friends and create a personal profile of yourself in which you become the friend you want to have. Whereas most other social sites—MySpace, Friendster, Tribe, Facebook, etc.—are not specifically thematic, Good Reads is all about books. You can see what books your friends are reading, list what books you are reading and list books that are on your list to read before you die.
Based on what I saw, Good Reads is entertaining but still experiencing some growing pains. What I mean is that if someone not into reading consulted the site for recommendations as to where to start, they might be led astray. The following are books listed on the site’s homepage and the ratings—based on the five-star system the site employs—that random people have given the works: The Bible-5 stars; Backyard Ballistics-5 stars; The Gulag Archipelago-1 star; The Declaration of Independence-4 stars.
This last rating is my favorite. I would love to meet this “Mike” character. Not to chide or mock him, but simply to ask him, “Why, Mike? Doesn’t TJ just get 5 stars by virtue of being TJ?”