HOW THE SOCIAL WEB IS SHAPING POPULAR READING

Jenny Baum
Kate Lyon

INTRODUCTION

The smell of paper, the feel of brittle pages against one’s skin, turning a page and not needing batteries to read a book: this is what people used to associate with books. Music lovers weathered the change to digital long ago, when listeners nostalgic about dropping the needle on a record or rewinding the tape inside a broken cassette, even amongst the most sentimental of holdouts, succumbed to the benefits of storage size and gave preference to the content over the vessel. MP3 players could hold entire music collections in a small, easy to search and organized, little device that wouldn’t break as easily as a typical Walkman.

Publishing and popular reading are changing. Although printed books are probably not on the verge of extinction, a new way of reading and sharing the culture of literacy is emerging. Technology, and especially the rise in popularity of eBook formats and eBook readers, is changing the way we absorb, access and share information. What were once static, printed pages are now interactive with hyper- text. Access to reading materials and to a worldwide-audience for one’s own writing has been completely transformed as a result of the Web.

This article will first discuss background on eReaders and particularly the hardware and software options available for reading a digital book. Secondly, this article will discuss how the social web affects the culture of popular reading, including the impact on librarians, booksellers, publishers, and the readers themselves.

A BACKGROUND ON EREADING

Two ingredients are needed to read eBooks: 1) the device that can display the eBook file (must be compatible with both the eBook’s file type and any DRM protection on the file), and (2) the eBook file. ePub, short for electronic publication, is the most popular eBook file format available that is becoming an industry standard and hence, can be read on a large variety of dedicated eBook reader devices and tablets.

PDF files can be converted to this format, and software packages, such as Adobe’s InDesign or Calibre, can facilitate the file conversion.

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is the software that manages and restricts how a user shares and copies their ePub file. DRM can be proprietary and it can be cracked, resulting in piracy of the work. However, Creative Commons (http:// creativecommons.org/) is an organization that can assist authors with making their works freely distributable, and in some cases, modifiable within the author’s preset boundaries. Popular content management systems, including blog and wiki soft- ware, can also convert pages or posts into the ePub format. Wikimedia (a popular wiki application used by Wikipedia) offers plug-ins that allows users to export their wiki pages into both ePub and PDF documents.

The lack of a platform-independent eBook format and the use of eBook Digital Rights Management (DRM) is a sticking point for some readers as it makes sharing eBooks difficult, even for a single user having many devices. Many eReader devices have built-in options for sharing books, but most have limits that are unacceptably low for users. Although ePub is beginning to emerge as an industry standard, it is still difficult to read a book bought from one vendor on another seller’s device or Book reading software.

The digital reader hardware, regardless of the features of any particular device, incurs a plethora of advantages and disadvantages. The ability to change font size is offered on almost all eReaders and they are often smaller than your average hardcover book. On the other hand, the eReader itself is still a costly purchase, although prices are coming down, and durability can be a concern. For a while, it also looked as though the lack of children’s material for eReaders might be a deal breaker for many. Now, however, many eReaders offer full-color displays and occasionally animation and sound effects as value added to the original work. The number of children’s titles available, much like the number of adult and young adult titles, is still somewhat limited for eReaders. On the other hand, children can be voracious and picky readers and returning a stack of eBooks to the library is much less labor intensive than returning a stack of 40 or more picture books.

Currently, there are quite a few options for reading eBooks. Initially, dedicated devices like the popular Kindle (from amazon.com), Nook (from Barnes and Noble) and Kobo readers (from Borders) used eInk technology, giving the screen a printed page-like quality. eInk screens can be read in bright sunlight, but some effects, like turning pages, can take a second or two. Generally, users need other input technology, like built-in scroll bars or keypads, in order to navigate the de- vice’s menus. Touchscreen eInk technology is just beginning to emerge. Electronic bookmarking, highlighting and annotation tools are available, but may require a small learning curve for users who are uncomfortable with technology to master. Unlike just slipping a piece of paper between print pages, or scribbling on paper, bookmarking, highlighting or annotating on an eReader might require a few steps, or knowing exactly how to click, or, on new capacitive touchscreen tablets, a particular multi-finger gesture, like a finger swipe.

Older Americans tend to be the most likely age bracket to own dedicated eReaders. According to a recent Pew Internet & American Life study, “Seven percent of ‘younger boomers,’ those now between the ages of 47 and 56, and 6 percent of those ages 66 to 74, own e-readers, the highest percentages among all age groups for devices like Amazon’s Kindle, Barnes & Noble’s Nook or Sony’s Reader” (Choney, 2011, para 1).

Reading eBooks on tablet PCs with eReading apps (a.k.a applications) built-in, is another popular choice. An article on ReadWriteWeb by Sarah Perez cites Steve Jobs’s famous quotation predicting the failure of eBook readers: “Forty percent of the people in the U.S. read one book or less last year. The whole conception is flawed at the top because people don’t read anymore,” he claimed. (2008, para 1). Perez goes on to cite a number of statistics backing Jobs’s argument that people no longer read print materials, but then counters with statistics showing an increase in online reading.

In 2010, just two years after he predicted the demise of eReaders, Apple introduced the iPad, a resounding sales success, along with the heavily marketed iOS iBooks app. Apparently, Jobs had a change of heart. The iPad, however, is not a dedicated eReader. Instead, it is a touchscreen tablet that runs Apple’s iOS operating system, the same OS that powers their iPhones and iPods. Thus, Steve Jobs’s comment about reading might still hold a grain of truth. For over a decade, research has shown that those who use technology, especially the younger generations, are multi-tasking. According to Lenhardt et al in a Pew Internet & American Life report, “When teens are logged on, they are often multi-tasking, simultaneously emailing, instant messaging, surfing the Web, and if they are fortunate enough to have two phone lines, a cell phone, or a broadband connection, talking on the phone, too” (2001, A General Portrait of Wired Teens, para 6). Since Web 2.0 and social networking became prevalent (around 2004), multi-tasking has an even greater hold on Americans, especially youth.

This desire to constantly multi-task, to be able to flip from email, to Instant Messenger, to a magazine article or web search, to an eBook, explains some of the popularity of tablet PCs, and perhaps explains why the older generation, who is more willing to sit with a single type of online content, is the segment of the population that is adopting dedicated eReaders at the highest rate.

Reading eBooks on devices not intended to be eReaders is another option. Laptops, PDAs and mobile phones are not primarily intended for reading but can be used as readers. The software (apps) for popular smart phones like iPhone, Android phones and Windows mobile phones, etc., exist, so that users can download eBooks to their devices. Similar software exists for desktop and laptop PCs. However, the small screen size is often not suited to reading for long periods of time, and reading on a desktop PC takes away some of the comfort that readers often associate with a good book. Hardly anyone curls up with a desktop PC in a nice warm chair with a cup of tea so that they can read a good eBook. Commuters and travelers, however, who might not want to carry an eReader or tablet in addition to their mobile phones, can often be seen on subways and buses reading on their smart phone, and they may even benefit from the ability to take a break from reading to play a game, for example.

Having Internet access on whatever device a user selects for reading is another consideration. Not only might a reader want to stop reading for a moment to check email or a friends’ status on Facebook, but a user might want Internet access to increase their interactivity with the text they’re reading. For example, the user might want to post the eBook they’re reading to a social networking site, or comment on an interesting plot development on their blog or Twitter feed. Readers can gain access to the Internet on their devices either through a cellular network, like 3G, or through WiFi. Most eReader and tablet manufacturers offer both options and some are bundled with the least expensive reader while others require a higher-end version of their reader for built-in Internet access options. Users who have WiFi still need to be in a hotspot in order to be connected.

Some eReading software and devices have built-in options such as reading the text aloud and navigating menus via voice control, making the devices very accessible for blind readers. For readers with impaired vision, the option to change the font size, background colors and brightness of the screens can be very helpful. Finally, for users who are house-bound, the ability to download books over the Internet opens up the world of books to them in a way that may have previously required an assistant or a books-by-mail service. For example, North Carolina State Library has acquired a digital talking book player for the blind or visually impaired (http://statelibrary.ncdcr.gov/lbph/dtbplayers.html), suggesting that libraries are al- ready gearing up to offer these new assistive technologies.

A movement to digital books, regardless of the device used to access the eBook, could mean a world in which digital literacy is a prerequisite for reading. At some point, when publishers and authors begin to offer their content only in eBook format, users who do not have the digital literacy skills to use an eBook reader will not have access to content. In the future, it is entirely possible that, in order to read for leisure, a user will need to be digitally literate. In order to be part of a community that discusses popular books and other written content, users will need to be part of an online social network, because that’s where a lot of the connections and discussion will take place.

THE CHANGING CULTURE OF POPULAR READING

Fifteen years ago, Philip Roth guessed there were at most 120,000 serious American readers—those who read every night—and that the number was dropping by half every decade. Others vehemently disagree. But who really knows? Focused consumer research is almost nonexistent in publishing. What readers want—and whether it’s better to cater to their desires or try harder to shape them—remains a hotly contested issue. You don’t have to look further than the pages of The New York Times Book Review to see that the market for fiction is shrinking. (Kachka, 2008) Starting in daycare and nursery school, a group of youngsters can often befound sitting in a circle listening to their teacher read a picture book. Before color television existed (let alone the Internet), public libraries sponsored book discussion groups, picture book hours and baby lap-sit time. Many readers enjoy talking about books with other people. They like recommending books to their friends and family, and they like reading other peoples’ recommendations. Writing alternate endings or new stories (i.e., fan fiction) using a book’s characters is also a popular pastime.

From pre-verbal years, through the twilight years, people have used reading as an important means of socializing in the United States.

Even before Web 2.0 and social sites like MySpace and Facebook launched, libraries and other organizations started to realize the potential for the web to serve as an online community for people to gather and share their interest in books. For example, as early as 1998, The New York Public Library sponsored a chat application that allowed authors to connect with users. They would then publish the chat transcripts on their website (http://www.nypl.org/voices/connect-nypl/chats-nypl). In addition, the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress (http://www.read. gov/cfb/), which encourages readers to connect with books and each other, has a vast online presence with many resources about books and reading. And, of course, there is the popularity of Oprah’s Book Club, which likely peaked with the twin controversies around James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces” (and questions as to its biographical authenticity); and Jonathan Franzen’s “The Corrections” (and the author’s statement that he did not want it included in the Book Club). It is worth noting that, years later, Oprah handed out Kindles to a gleeful audience.

Thus, readers were already moving to the online world to connect with other readers when much more interactive and community-driven websites started to appear in what was later dubbed the emergence of Web 2.0. Book management/ recommendation sites (for example: good reads, library thing and Facebook apps) now shape what some people choose to read. Suddenly, the wisdom of crowds began offering a service long offered by librarians: Readers’ Advisory. Whereas Readers’ Advisory is not very scalable, traditionally involving a one-on-one transaction, book recommendation software features adapt with the user’s preferences and with the preferences of the community. A long-tail title can explode in popularity, years after its initial release, simply via viral marketing on social networking sites, as detailed in Chris Anderson’s “The Long Tail”. Wikipedia defines long tail marketing as refer- ring to “describing the retailing strategy of selling a large number of unique items with relatively small quantities sold of each – usually in addition to selling fewer popular items in large quantities” (“Long Tail,” 2012, para. 2). One oft-cited example of this is Jon Krakauer’s “Into Thin Air”, which exploded in popularity years after its initial release thanks to online reviews and interest. Readers, in their ability to harness the collective book reading experience by using their social network connections, are gaining the Readers’ Advisory expertise of their local librarian.

Many people use social media for book sharing and the Good Reads site allows users to recommend books they are currently reading. Google Bookstore offers links to reviews from sites like Good Reads and suggests related books. Good Reads expands on the idea of book clubs by enlisting the author to create a type of game or contest around the work (http://www.goodreads.com/challenges/4-the-goodreads-book-club-challenge). Bookperk does something similar. For example, they recently ran a contest to choose who would be the voice of the next Neil Gaiman audiobook as selected from the most user votes (http://neilgaiman.bookperk.com). The number of social networking sites that have developed for readers is growing, and these collective groups, provide the tool for readers to gain expertise about popular titles and authors and have book discussions. Publishers, librarians and booksellers are now adapting their services to fill other gaps. The New York Public Library has attempted some out-of-the-box experiments in social networking, such publicly writ- ten staff blogs. Blogs on NYPL.org serve as a Readers’ Advisory to anyone with an internet connection, in lieu of the traditional, in-person Readers’ Advisory which was constrained by geographic location.

A few key elements emerge as being central to user expertise: reputation and trust; popularity; the quality and enthusiasm of a review; and like-mindedness or shared interests between the reviewer and the person reading the review. Social software sites that promote these elements seem to be the most successful at emulating a Readers’ Advisory interaction.

For authors, the advent of social media and eBooks has translated into a plethora of free options and opportunities. From The National Novel Writing Month website (www.nanowrimo.org), to gather.com, users create content. Plug-ins for popular blogging software allows authors to export their blog posts into ePub, a popular eBook format. Sites like Gather encourage writing by creating communities around shared interests. Users are encouraged to write fan fiction rather than simply be consumers of the types of media they are passionate about. These groups also serve as a vetting process as the community can work as a sort of focus group for early drafts, meaning that the author no longer is forced to work in solitude. The social networking that these groups accomplish can extend even to the cover art and marketing stages of a work, long before that work is ever glimpsed by a publisher. Cory Doctorow, for example, was able to make use of these networks from an early stage in his career, partly from his involvement with the ever-popular BoingBoing.net and partly from what he refers to in his novels as “Whuffie”, a kind of reputation-based currency that is gained (or lost) with favorable (or unfavorable) actions in his book “Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom”.

Authors are now better able to build their own buzz with social networking

tools, as was the case with Stephenie Meyer’s “Twilight” series. Meyer was able to build a fan base through her blog and build enough buzz to secure a movie deal. Although the “Twilight” series was not self-published, the marketing style conformed to the self-publishing ethos. Self-published books are increasing in popularity. The creator of a work can control the means of production and distribution of the works, as with Cory Doctorow’s oeuvre. Doctorow was distributing his short stories as ebooks before any major publishers had developed ebook distribution streams. Now, self-publishing is no longer simply the domain of vanity works but a distribution stream unto itself.

Self-epublishing has exploded in popularity and a few startups have risen to meet the demand. For example, Bookbaby.com converts and distributes your ebook for roughly $40 and gives the user 100% of the royalties through their network of digital retailers like Apple’s iBookstore, the Nook store at Barnes & Nobles and the Kindle store at Amazon.com. Tapjoy has announced a self-publishing program for mobile developers to publish their games. As many core audiences have slowly moved from spending leisure time reading to watching movies to playing video- games (or perhaps, went straight to playing video games), the opportunities for digital natives to present their own stories have moved right along with them.

There is a stigma attached to self-published works that has not been eliminated by the shift to digital books, but the reviews and ranking systems of ebooks can make or break their popularity, rather than the traditional vetting systems. A New York Times Book Review article describes how Justin Halpern, a 28-year old semi-employed comedy writer living with his parents in Los Angeles, went from a virtually unknown young man with a Twitter account, to a best-selling author in just nine months. He decided to start posting his 73-year-old father’s irascible, foul-mouthed wisdom on a Twitter feed that he called ‘Stuff My Dad Says.’ “Nine months later, he has more than a million followers, a deal for a sitcom starring William Shatner (tentatively titled ‘’Bleep My Dad Says’’) and a book at No. 8 on the hardcover nonfiction list” (Schuessler, 2010, para 1). Although the number of books sold translates into best-seller status and still symbolizes success, statistics like the number of followers for a Twitter feed, or the number of friends on a Facebook page, are starting to gain equal hold in terms of measuring success and the popularity of an author’s work.

While many people who grew up with libraries see them as “temples to books”, digital natives intuitively find the content they crave from eBook web sites and “readalikes” (book recommendations based on what they’re currently reading) from social networking web sites rather than from things such as traditional library displays, librarian recommendations, etc. Eli Neiburger, Associate Director for IT & Production at the Ann Arbor District Library, spoke on this at the LJ/SLJ eBooks conference, saying (as reported in an article on digital book world) “libraries are screwed”. “In an internetworked world, the idea of a local copy only makes sense to a hoarder,” He says. Ultimately, he says libraries still have a future as community spaces that are places of production. How are libraries working to ensure their users are producers of ebooks and not simply consumers of them? He ended his talk by saying, “The cat is out of the bag. Everyone is a publisher. The 20th-century [library] brought the world to its community. The 21st-century library brings its community to the world” (Williams, 2010, The Library as Platform, para 2).

A recent NPR article comments, “In the current climate, libraries worry they’ll become obsolete. Publishers are afraid they won’t be able to make any money” (Neary, 2011, para 6). The demise of print is predicted and decried almost as often as the prediction that libraries will disappear. The common argument is that “everything” will be available online. However, not everything will be available for free online. Libraries have traditionally made materials that are expensive available for free to their users, which encourages reading and literacy, even in the poorest populations. Libraries are known for digital divide initiatives and reading programs. Although the Amazon Kindle and Barnes & Noble Nook are in the process of adding “LendMe” features which promise to have the appeal of library services, if not the full functionality, these functionalities still rely on a reader knowing someone who has the book.

Some libraries are responding by building a strong social media presence so that they can be in the virtual place where their users congregate. The New York Public Library, for example, tackled this by hosting a Social Media Week and bringing together the minds at Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, and Google to help them develop their social media strategy.

Booksellers are no exception to those in the book industry whose demise is regularly predicted, even globally. For example, Yin (June 15, 2011) reported in Galleycat, “Australian small business minister Nick Sherry angered booksellers by predicting that bookstores “will cease to exist” in five years” (para 1). The business minister was referring to brick and mortar stores, not the monolith online retailers like Amazon.com, who has branched out and now sells everything from diapers to toasters. Australia is an interesting case because the retail price on their books is substantially high, yet they have a flourishing book culture, despite a push to get the Internet into Australian households. (Reuters, 2011). Meanwhile, in the United States, Barnes & Noble recently reported a net loss, despite a 20 percent increase in sales for the fiscal year and addressed a recent buyout bid (Boog, 2011). Some bookstores are now charging for in-store author events, a move that was previously considered “desperate” (Yin, June 22, 2011) Booksellers are already looking to the Apple store’s customer service model so that they can be as nimble as the oft-cited giant in user-friendliness. However, no bookstore, no matter how well stocked, has everything.

CONCLUSION

As user demand turns towards ebook readers over traditional print media, communities still need to continue to disseminate information and promote literacy in a reliable and effective way. Ironically, the same touting of user expertise that will lead to the obsolescence of major stakeholders in “the book business” (librarians, publishers & booksellers), might ultimately lead to less literate users, or at least, a much wider literacy divide. Libraries currently provide paid content for free. Without libraries, users who cannot pay for content, will be limited to only free content, which is undoubtedly far more abundant and accessible but not necessarily equal in authority or quality to paid content. Libraries and schools seem the best poised to tackle the task of a potential literacy divide by continuing to provide content for free to their users, but with a dwindling infrastructure, users may need to advocate for themselves.

The ever-changing nature of technology means that digital readers will likely come down in price, but that new and improved models will continually be on the landscape as well. Without a doubt, many of these improvements will serve to make readers more connected and reading as a pastime may look very different from the solitary experience it currently is.

REFERENCES

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