Shelf Control: Connect With Your Fellow Bookworms With Goodreads For iOS
March 11, 2013
For last week's edition of Shelf Control, I featured a new storybook app that re-imagines L. Frank Baum's "The Wizard of Oz," which is the inspiration of the new Disney movie "Oz the Great and Powerful." The app, aptly named The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for iPad, includes an interactive Picture Book mode in addition to its Original Novel mode, which presents all 24 chapters of the classic source material.
I'm actually in the middle of reading the original novel in a neat paperback volume also containing two other "Oz" novels. And I've made it a habit to log my progress in the book through the official iOS app of my favorite bookish social network, Goodreads — which happens to be the featured app in this week's edition of Shelf Control.
This week on Shelf Control, we're going to focus on the Goodreads app in general and its recently released update in particular.
In case you're not familiar with Goodreads itself, know that, as a bookworm, you have a friend in Goodreads. As I've noted before, Goodreads is like Facebook for people with their faces constantly buried in books.
Goodreads, of course, resides on the Web with its main desktop site. But it's also available through its official iOS client, which offers the following capabilities:
As I've mentioned, a recently released update has found its way to Goodreads for iOS. And it brings several more capabilities. Foremost among these is messaging support. Finally, you can now manage your Goodreads inbox using the app. Just tap on the new mail icon next to the notifications icon to access your Goodreads inbox. Note that the mail icon is accompanied by a numeric badge if you have unread messages in your inbox. In addition, with the app's newly added messaging support, you can now send a message using the app by tapping the new write icon in your inbox. Alternatively, you can go to the profile of another user and tap the new Send Message button. If you're viewing the profile of a user who isn't your friend on Goodreads, you'll also notice a new Follow/Unfollow button. Tap this button to follow or unfollow the reviews of the user. The updated version of Goodreads for iOS also adds the ability to search for groups and join new ones. Moreover, it includes improved Facebook integration that makes use of native iOS 6 account management. Regrettably, the app is still not updated with a long-overdue interface redesign. Perhaps in the next chapter, I mean, update. Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad running iOS 4.3 or later, Goodreads for iOS is available in the App Store for free. As always, if you have suggestions for Shelf Control, please feel free to email me at aldrin@appadvice.com or simply leave a comment below. [gallery link="file" order="DESC"]
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