Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) Gathers Up Goodreads Social Network

Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) is not just the world’s biggest e-commerce marketplace; it is developing a reputation as the best online bookstore and book-reading experience with its library of books, e-books and its fleet of Kindles to make book reading more convenient for many people who are on the go. Goodreads is a social network that was built by and for book readers as an opportunity to recommend or not recommend books among friends and neighbors. After all, unless a book is written by a mainstream celebrity or an established nae (like Dan Brown, Tom Clancy or Stephen King), many books get their readership by word-of-mouth advertising. If you read a good book recently, don’t you tend to mention it to friends or colleagues?

Amazon.com Inc. took a step toward more than just reviews of books and e-books purchased at its marketplace by announcing a deal to purchase Goodreads for an amount that is of yet undisclosed. The expectation is that Goodreads will open up new sales possibilities for Amazon, as members of the social network share  their best recommendations with others, those others might then go to Amazon to buy those books. In converse, Amazon stated it intends to make Goodreads an opportunity for authors to locate book readers who may not know about them – such as, locating readers of books from the same genre as the author.

“Goodreads has helped change how we discover and discuss books and, with Kindle, Amazon has helped expand reading around the world,” said Russ Grandinetti, vice president of Kindle content for Amazon.com Inc.. “In addition, both Amazon and Goodreads have helped thousands of authors reach a wider audience and make a better living at their craft.”

What do you think about this acquisition by Amazon.com Inc.? How do you see it helping its overall business model? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

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