Shelfari Launches New Virtual Bookshelf
New Online Shelf and Easy-To-Use Design Help Over 1 Million Book Lovers
Find New Reads And Friends
SEATTLE, WA – December 20, 2007 – Shelfari (www.shelfari.com), the world’s leading social network for book lovers, today announced the launch of a completely new version of its popular book-sharing site, just in time to help its readers share their holiday literary finds. After a year of improving its beta website and attracting more than 1 million avid “Shelfarian” members who place their books on virtual shelves, Shelfari has launched with a new look and advanced features that make it easier for its members to rate and review their books, discover new books to read in the new year, and meet readers who share their love for the written word. New features and design include:
- Beautiful Wood Grain Shelf: Shelfari’s new bookshelf combines powerful browsing and organizing with elegant design. Members can easily browse a reader’s shelf, viewing books he or she has read, is reading, and hopes one day to read.
- Faster Rating and Reviewing: Shelfari readers can quickly rate and review the books they read. With this new design, readers can easily view a friend’s book reviews while browsing their shelf.
- Easier Site Navigation System: Shelfari's new navigational design provides easy access to the most important features, reinforces where users are on the site, and makes the primary actions on each page easier to find and complete.
“Shelfari is a vibrant community of readers who actively participate and express themselves through their passion for books. This aligns with our passion to bring a rich and unique social web experience to life for our members around the world,” said Josh Hug, Shelfari’s CEO. “We plan to make other exciting announcements in 2008 as we aim to make finding the perfect read, and the friends to discuss it with, as easy as opening a book.”
Shelfari launched in October 2006 and has since become one of the fastest growing, vertically oriented social media sites on the Internet, with more than 1 million avid readers already registered on the free site. In the same way that Flickr transformed digital photos, Digg transformed news discovery, and YouTube transformed online video, Shelfari transforms the discovery of and social interaction around books. Shelfari’s interface enables users to instantly find and add titles to their personal bookshelf, connect with friends, browse other users’ bookshelves, and influence others by recommending books and engaging in book discussions. The new site design will serve as a canvas on which other exciting updates will be placed in 2008.
About Shelfari
Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, Shelfari is creating the world’s first social media site focused on books. A powerful yet simple interface enables Shelfari users (“Shelfarians”) to build virtual bookshelves and socially interact around the books they care about. The company was founded by three technology veterans from RealNetworks who believe that people want to discuss and discover great books online. Shelfari can be found by visiting www.shelfari.com.
Press Contact
Cherie Le Penske
LP Group
press@shelfari.com
206-852-8427