Skip to main content

Looking for something to read? Let Facebook help with new BookScout app

The relationship between authors and social media has long been a close one, with many of the former realizing the usefulness of the latter when it comes to staying in touch with their existing fanbase, and reaching out to new readers to win them over as fans. Now, one publisher believes that it’s time to take that close relationship to the next level with the launch of a new Facebook app that will “enable book lovers to discover new authors and share their favorite books with friends.”

The app, called BookScout and described as “the Facebook community for book lovers” whether “an occasional or avid reader,” is the creation of Random House’s Digital Marketplace Development Group. It follows that group’s establishment of websites like Word & Film, Everyday Book, Biographile, and Suvudu by taking those sites’ outreach efforts in a more personal direction. Facebook users who install the app will receive recommendations for books based upon information from their own timelines, as well as opportunities to Like, share, and add books to virtual “bookshelves” within the app itself.

Related Videos

“Information about people’s interests from their Facebook timelines is incorporated into the personal recommendations, and Liking books via the app helps create more tailored suggestions – the more books and interests users Like, the better the recommendations will be,” Random House explained in a press release promoting the launch of BookScout. “Recommendations feature titles from all publishers, and include links to major retailers so people can easily purchase print books and eBooks they’re interested in.”

The social aspect of Facebook is important to the app’s functionality; users can keep track of other BookScout users’ bookshelves, tagging titles that they’d be interested in reading themselves, and otherwise enabling a more organic recommendation conversation outside of the automated recommendations. Amanda Close, Random House’s Senior Vice President of Digital Marketplace Development, says socially-driven recommendation process is key to the app’s success. “Word of mouth is the number one way readers learn and get enthusiastic about books they want to read,” she explained. “By creating BookScout, Random House is helping to encourage conversations about books on Facebook, and broaded the social discovery of books in the digital space.” They’re also helping push sales; the app will allow users to buy books discovered within the app itself, with both vendor and format decided by the user.

A surprisingly absent element of social reading and book discovery is the idea of a virtual book club or discussion group; perhaps we’ll see that feature added into a second edition of BookScout (or a separate app altogether). For now, the app is available via its own dedicated page at Facebook.

Editors' Recommendations

Hive Social is my favorite Twitter alternative, but that’s not saying much
iPhone 14 Pro in hand showing off profile page on Hive Social app

Ever since Elon Musk bought Twitter, it seems that the once-favorite social media site has just been going down in flames. It’s a sad sight to see — fake news and misinformation running rampant from paid “verified” accounts, restoration of formerly banned accounts (they were banned for good reason), and so much other stuff that I just can’t keep up anymore. With all of these changes, there’s been a rise in alternatives to Twitter, like the incredibly popular Mastodon.

I prefer something simpler, like the new Hive Social that has recently made waves. Think of Twitter and Instagram, and what you would end up with if you combined the two. There’s also a little dash of Myspace in there, as you can even add some music to your profile page. I’ve been poking around on Hive Social since I joined a week ago, and while I’ve been enjoying my time there, I also noticed a few things along the way.
Hive reminds me of the early days of Twitter
OnePlus 10T Andy Boxall/Digital Trends

Read more
How to delete a BeReal post
BeReal app showing a photo of some clothes.

BeReal posts are meant to show you as you are, but sometimes that level of authenticity is just too awkward to post. Sometimes the app's automatic selfie capture takes a selfie that's just too goofy to share with your friends.

Or maybe you'd just rather take a photo of something else for today's BeReal prompt. In any case, if you're unhappy with a BeReal post you just published, don't worry. You can delete it. And we can show you how. We'll go over what you need to know about deleting BeReal posts and then we'll guide you step-by-step on how to properly delete a BeReal post.

Read more
What is Twitter Blue and is it worth it?
Twitter Blue menu option on a white screen background which is on a black background.

If you spend time on Twitter, you've probably heard the phrase "Twitter Blue" at some point and wondered what exactly it is. We're not talking about the signature shade of blue featured in its logo -- we're talking about the premium version of Twitter.

That's right. There's a paid tier for Twitter that many people don't even know exists that launched in July of 2021. And then relaunched again under Elon Musk's ownership in November 2022. Don't worry -- we'll explain everything below.
What is Twitter Blue?

Read more
https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/facebook-bookscout-app/
www.digitaltrends.com
CC-MAIN-2023-14
238703
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:4ZMXXXMHD3QLYZGZ67KI3K4YRPJV74UN
<urn:uuid:c53f9e5d-8291-47bd-9aa4-89e88e7d7df9>
2023-03-24T14:54:06Z
192.0.66.16
text/html
sha1:JYNIZTKUM6IYO3CJLDMYIY4OXBMSFKO5
<urn:uuid:53aca6f8-1527-4189-8351-d015ef912462>
https://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/facebook-bookscout-app/
response
<urn:uuid:615363cd-639f-433c-9e0e-92c9847b3606>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2023-14
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for March/April 2023
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-195
software: Apache Nutch 1.19 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.4-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/