Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Goodreads.com is a social cataloging site for everyone from the casual reader to bibliofile
a place to create reading groups of like-minded readers
access book ratings and book lists across numerous genres
to keep track of what people are reading, or would like to read
above all else, goodreads is a place for people to find share books they love
this is their mission
there are over 14 million goodreads account holders collectively adding nearly
half a billion books to the digital shelves
it is a free web 2.0 tool which undoubtably increases the chance of
readers to find the books they want
books that without the crowd sourcing power of goodreads
they might never have known existed
by the end of this tutorial, viewers should be equipped with the skills necessary
to sign up for an account, add books to their future reading lists
access personalized recommendations, and begin adding friends to foster a vibrant online
reading community
over the next 7 minutes I will be showing you how to complete various tasks
it will likely be beneficial to watch the entire tutorial once through uninterupted
and then to watch it a second time using the pause button frequently to allow you
time to execute the tasks on the goodreads website
ready to begin?
let's take a look at the goodreads site
double click on a web browser available to you, and when it opens
type in "www.goodreads.com"
in the url box click enter
the first thing you'll need to do is sign up for an account on the right hand side of the screen
you will notice a section entitled: "New here? Create a free account!"
enter your name, email address and password
and then click "Sign up"
for this tutorial I'll entered "Jack Frost" a fictitious email address,
and password
you of course, will into your own personal information
Congratulations!
you just successfully accomplish the first learning goal of this tutorial
by signing up for an account
the screen you see now will be a place where you can check your address books
from various accounts to find friends on goodreads
finding and adding friends will be an important part of this tutorial
which we will cover later
but for now, choose the link entitled "skip this step" on the right-hand side of the screen
now it is time to have some fun
on this screen you need to select your favorite genres
do so by using your mouse, or the touchpad, to click on boxes
of the genres which interests you most
you don't have to be perfect
you may always add or subtract genres from interest list later on
for this example I'll select Fantasy,
Science fiction, Fiction and Mystery
go ahead and choose your favorite genres
then click on the continue button at the bottom of the page
goodreads uses the information you provide regarding your reading interest
to customize recommendations for you
to activate this feature you need to rate at least 20 books which you
previously read
in the tool bar, on the left side of the screen you'll see the genres you have
previously identified as of interest to you
currently, Fantasy is highlighted and you'll notice that a variety of
current popular fantasy novels are displayed on the majority of the screen
beneath each fantasy novel is a button entitled "want to read"
if you spot a particular book of interests go ahead and click the "want to read" button
and it'll be stored on your account in your future reading list
I've been meaning to read Cinder, and so I'll select the "want to read" button
beneath the book cover
go ahead and peruse for a book you'd like to read in the future
just like that you've added a book to your future reading list
while at the same time successfully accomplishing the second learning goal for this tutorial
while adding books to our future reading list is fun the real purpose on this page is to
give goodreads more information about your interests
do this by looking through the books provided, identifying any you've read and rating them
rate books by clicking on the stars
choosing 1 star indicates you did not enjoy the book
while choosing 5 stars, indicates a strong enjoyment of the book
for example, I've read the first book, The Hobbit, and enjoyed it
I'll give it 4 stars
by clicking the fourth star you will notice that goodreads is keeping track of the
number of books I've rated in the top left corner, and that I need to rate 19 more books
before it can begin giving me personalized recommendations
I'll rate a few of the fantasy books that I've read and then switch to a different genre
by navigating to my list of preferred genres
at the left of the screen where I'll rate some more
do this until you right at least 20 books you will have future oppertunities
to rate books at your leisure so, don't feel pressured
to rate every book you've ever read at this moment
once you've rated at least 20 books and are ready to continue click on the
"I'm finished rating" link at the top right corner of the screen
you'll be taken to a screen which will generate your personal recommendations
sometimes this takes a minute two so be patient
at this point, I've rated my 20 books and have moved forward by clicking the
"I'm finished rating" link
and there they are!
listed by genre, are personally tailored recommendations and if you weren't already aware
you've just completed the third learning objectives for this tutorial
take a look your recommendations maybe you have heard of some of the books? maybe you haven't?
are they any good?
there's only one way to find out
but before you race to your local library or bookstore to test goodreads on the accuracy of
it's recommendations stick with me for the last learning objective in this tutorial
i'm going to move now to the fourth and final learning objective
that of adding friends to an account
there are a number of ways to do this depending on where you are within the goodreads site
but from this recommendations page the easiest way to do so
is by scrolling to the top of the page and selecting the "Friends" link
in the middle
you'll arrive at a page titled "Friends" and being that you were in new user
your page will look empty, since you are not linked to any friends on goodreads yet
you may use the "find friends" field on the right-hand side of the screen to
search for a friend using either his email address or name
if you are unsure whether the person in question is a member of goodreads
it's probably better to search by email address
I would like to add Colin Price a friend of mine and fellow goodreads member
to my account
because I know he is already part of the goodreads network
I'll enter his name, and click the "find friends" button
the next page will show my search results the Colin Price I was looking for is the
third on the list
I'll click the "add as a friend" button and once Colin receives my request
he will have the opportunity to accept or deny it
Congratulations by sending an invitation you've successfully begun the process of
populating your friends list on goodreads meanwhile completing the fourth
and final learning objective
that concludes the goodreads tutorial
although I encourage you to spend some additional time exploring the sight
to see how it can best fits your needs
along with the four objectives covered in the session
goodreads offers dozens of other user friendly features so go ahead
open your goodreads account today
and get ready to be your next favorite book.