Sandi

Press Release - March 06, 2014
Synchronize BookLikes with your Kindle

March 6, 2014 -- BookLikes, free and independent blog platform designed for book lovers, introduces reading progress synchronization for Amazon Kindle.

Book lovers use BookLikes to share their reading milestones, connect with book bloggers and share book reviews and book recommendations with their followers. Today BookLikes is making all of that even easier by allowing its users to synchronize their account with Kindle e-readers and reading apps.

BookLikes presents Kindle reading update synchronization which lets each BookLikes member keep their BookLikes followers up to date on reading status and the latest information about read and rated ebooks straight from Kindle device. If you read on Kindle and share the reading progress and ratings across your social media, it will be updated on user’s BookLikes account. Each member can configure his/her synchronization option in BookLikes Settings and share ebook reading flow and ebook ratings in real time manner directly from Kindle e-reader.

BookLikes, an independent global platform designed for book lovers, integrates functions of a blog platform and book social site. The service lets users create a personal webpage with a blog, virtual bookshelf and reading timeline. Redesigned BookLikes launched in May 2013 and during ten months

The service releases one new feature every week and the most recent news include customization features and new blog designs, giveaways (including ebooks), discussion rooms, book blog directory, open API and BookLikes ISBN Scanner iOS app.

More information:
david@booklikes.com

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Some comments:

"...[G]athered tens of thousands of the most influential book bloggers from all around the world and became one of the biggest competitor to other popular book social sites like Goodreads."

Tens of thousands? I'd like to meet just a few not from Goodreads, but that perhaps is a function of BL that it is difficult to meet anyone who isn't connected to you by a friend anyway.  And why did we come to Booklikes? Because Goodreads sold out to Amazon, got a new boss, head of the Kindle division, and it's like that old song, here we go, here we go, here we go again...

Can't anyone resist Amazon?  It's just plain contemptuous to ignore the obvious dislike of Amazon and sharing information with them (see the comments yesterday's Thursday Candy, sour candy, garnered). I had a message yesterday from a friend who had commented who asked me if I felt that Dawid was being disingenous with his answers. As it turns out, the answer is yes.

The tone of the press release, wow. So positive, so aren't you all so pleased that now Amazon will know not only what book you have purchased rented from them, but they will know your rating, when you update your blog and which social media you are sharing it with and your screenname Goodreads, the review you wrote there. If you are sharing with other social media, the data they will have on you is amazing, BookLikes just adds to all that. I am sure that Amazon has algorithms that once it finds yet another screen name for a user they will look it up all over the net, see what else they can find out about you. Sure they are 'only' using it to make money from, to sell you everything on the sun, to sell you and your friends and family's data, sure it isn't anything malign. But.... how long before some government covertly or not, wants the information on you, or on all of us? Don't say it wouldn't happen, Google's done it...

You and I may have nothing to hide, but it doesn't mean we want to share with the world either. Even if you life in a gated community, you still lock your front door.

Yesterday there was a furore going on about Ann Rice's attempts to stop all negative reviews being published by getting Amazon to make everyone who posts use their credit card name. (She doesn't however think that authors should stop using pen names).  Amazon is about sales. To that end it has deleted a lot of reviews (Temple of Words here, a very non-confrontational and thoughtful blogger lost all hers), mine among them, a 2 star review at that, didn't mention the author, deleted comments, deleted whole threads. On Goodreads, Amazon have changed the culture from bookclub to authors' marketplace and gone in for review deletions, shelf deletions, and allowed, if not passively encouraged, paid reviews. Once there was only Fiverr, yesterday I found over 40 companies offering fake Amazon and Goodreads reviews.

And now we have Dawid saying that Booklikes is independent... Depends on your definition of independence really doesn't it?