BookLikes has been in beta version for quite some time, but the website has now launched its full release.

The site seems to combine different aspects of social media sites such as Tumblr and Goodreads to become a place for readers to share thoughts and reviews. BookLikes is not just limited to reviews. Users can create different posts about anything.

You can also follow other users, read their posts and discover books they’ve read.

Social site

I tested the site out briefly and uploaded a review I had previously written. It really reminds me a lot of Tumblr in different ways. There are “Dashboard” and “Follow” buttons in the top-right corner. In addition, after each post, users can “reblog” it to their own site if they want.

Posts aren’t just limited to text. Users can update their pages with photos, quotes, videos or links to other sites.

One noticeable aspect: Users can link to affiliate sites such as Amazon in the United States. It seems that there’s a potential to make money on this site if your gain a bunch of followers and get them to purchase books through Amazon.

Adding books

Adding books to a shelf is easy. You can either search for them in the menu bar or find them on other people’s pages. Once you add a book to your shelf, it can be added to “read,” “planning to read,” or “currently reading.” In addition, you can add books to a wish list, mark it as a favorite or make it private.

Users can rate books and even give half stars as well, which is a nice feature.

Overall

The site has great potential. It has a clean design, and it’s certainly the type of site you can get lost on for hours. The only thing it’s missing right now? Users. But sites don’t grow in just a matter of days.

BookLikes also states that it’s not done adding things to the website. So it’ll be interesting to see where the site is headed.

I plan to use the site for the next several weeks; I’ll give an update then.

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