In terms of promotion, social media like Facebook and Twitter can help popularize the e-book more than in the past. First, social media is free so there is no expense when it comes to promoting and advertising on the various social networking sites. Also, with social media, you'll be able to stress the fact that e-books are much cheaper than paperback and hardback books. Each time a new set of books becomes available for the e-book, social media can instantly promote them to businesses and non-businesses alike and in effect gain more sales.
In terms of usage, social media can be applied to the actual e-book itself. Say, for example, that an e-book for the iPad comes with various note taking tools like highlighting, a dictionary, a magnifying glass and sticky tabs (bookmarks) at the bottom of the electronic page. Well, what if social media were added to that toolbar on the bottom? Add an icon for twitter, facebook, tumblr and foursquare to the toolbar so that if a reader comes across a memorable quote, picture or video on the page they can immediately tweet about it, Facebook or tumble a graphic or even foursquare their literal or fictional location in the book. So if you were reading Harry Potter for the first or more likely, the third time, you could check in at either your sofa reading the book or you could take the more fun option, and check in at Hogwarts. Readers would love to interact more with their books, and by adding social media to the picture, a whole new level of reading enjoyment will arise.
The uses for social media are endless, especially when it comes to e-books. Whether you just want to popularize your product or provide a more interactive approach for your customers, social media is quite a handy tool to have in your back pocket.
How do you feel about social media and the e-book? Share your thoughts!
Until next time -
I think combining social media with an e-reading experience is a great idea. It should be an easy to tweet a favorite quote from a book while you are reading it. Or maybe clip out parts to discuss with an online book community.
ReplyDeleteThere are services online like Goodreads and Shelfari that you can use to track which books you have read, what books you plan to read, etc. Using these services you can also post reviews online and compare your taste to others' to find new reading material. I think it would be great for there to be compatibility with these social sites directly integrated into e-readers. Like for example, when you finish reading an e-book it should automatically update your Goodreads account saying that you finished that book.