Online Book Communities

How do you rate sites which you’ve never visited before?  You do it with lots and lots of time and patience.  I began working on one site at a time and tried my best to navigate every aspect of the site.  I began thinking about two things while navigating the sites. One being how I could use it as a teacher and the other was how could my second grade daughter use these sites?  Basically, I approached this assignment as an adult and what I think a child would like.  Both drove me a bit crazy because of the amount of information that was so readily accessible, but it was interesting to break the sites down.  

Goodreads

*Place to discuss favorite books with other readers online. 

*Adult users with no kids section so people connect with all age groups.

*Communication is primarily about reviews. 

*When you first log in, the site walks you through how to create a library and rate books.

Goodreads
Likes	FAQ is extensive and well organized
Dislikes	People connect with all age groups
Advantages	Open discussions on favorite books
Disadvantages	No kids section
Ease of Use	Easy to navigate with Tips section
Pleasing to the eye	Very simple design, somewhat bland
Thoughts	Allows for constant updates, but somewhat hard to access on tablets

LibraryThing

*Puts you in touch with people of similar taste and browse their collections.

*See reviews and author information.

*Simple way of using Tags.

*Simple way to create username and password.

*Simple creation of collection.

*The site generates book recommendations.

*Can be made private or public.

*Post for free up to 200 books, but requires payment for yearly or lifetime membership.

LibraryThing
Likes	“What’s good” section allows for site help and navigation
Dislikes	Fee for a year or lifetime
Advantages	Tracks recent activity and “On this day” section
Disadvantages	Takes time to learn how to navigate
Ease of Use	Easy to sign up and create
Pleasing to the eye	Enjoy seeing my collection upon signing in
Thoughts	Easy to read member recommendations

Shelfari

*3 tabs including Profile, Books, and Community

*Tabs for Readers and Reviews, Discussions, and Editions

*Books can be purchased through Amazon and shared on social media

*More scholarly design

Shelfari
Likes	Various tabs including a Community tab
Dislikes	Takes a while to get your profile 100% complete
Advantages	Join groups to discuss books
Disadvantages	Connecting through Facebook or Twitter for friends
Ease of Use	Reading timeline is great to have
Pleasing to the eye	Brown overload of color
Thoughts	Didn’t’ like some stranger adding content to my wall, need to set up privacy

Booklikes

*Had to update Java just to answer that I’m not a robot.

*Verification code is crazy long.

*Paid theme backgrounds are super cute.

*Geared towards book blogging and reviews.

*Dashboard page has an abundance of Tumblr style posts.

*100% free-no limit to the number of books on the bookshelf.

*Connects with social media.

Booklikes
Likes	100% free with lots of Tumblr type posts
Dislikes	Verification code was extremely long
Advantages	Geared towards book reviews
Disadvantages	Blogging format
Ease of Use	Had to update Java, somewhat tedious
Pleasing to the eye	Lots of brown looks, have to pay for nicer theme backgrounds
Thoughts	Accessible to all but more for older teens and adults

Biblionasium

*Social networking site that lets younger readers log and share their books.

*COPPA compliant

*Kids talk to other kids and teachers.

*Simple to use.

*Provides reading challenges.

*Coach Chip Manzee supports children.

*Design is colorful and kid friendly.

*Kids can share their opinions.

*Signed in as a parent and was constantly asked to create a username for my daughter.

*There were limited books-not all books from a series.

Biblionasium
Likes	Very kid friendly
Dislikes	Connects with all age groups
Advantages	COPPA compliant (Child Online Privacy Protection Act)
Disadvantages	Felt I had to create user access for my daughter with Parent sign in
Ease of Use	Lacks more books
Pleasing to the eye	Extremely kid friendly
Thoughts	Easy and a good starter for books reviews and discussions

I would definitely have to say that Biblionasium is the way to go for younger children and students.  I would recommend the site to parents to create with their children and I would definitely take advantage of the reading challenges that are presented on the site for kids.  The site is extremely kid friendly and is easy to navigate.  It is a good starter site for reading books reviews, creating bookshelves, and having discussions with either younger children or teachers.  This site was by far my favorite to use with my students and my own child.  


**On another note, I used SKITCH for the first time and thought it was easy to use.  I used both the Microsoft Print Screen option and SKITCH.  Both ways were easy to use, so I can use either one with ease and comfort.  Obviously, SKITCH is more advanced and it will take me more time to feel comfortable using it with more mastery.