I do use social media to find book recommendations, but find that I use different social media platforms for different purposes.
While my Twitter feed is full of authors promoting their books, most of them aren’t in the genres I read, so I usually scroll right past. I mostly use Twitter for news (since I realised a good portion of the stories in the local news originated on Twitter), and to see how other Kiwis are reacting to local news stories.
I have a Pinterest account where I post all my book reviews and blog posts.
However, I rarely see other people’s book posts. That’s no doubt a reflection of how I’ve trained the Pinterest algorithm, but it does mean I don’t spend much time on the site and certainly don’t use it to find books (although it is good for interior design tips and recipes).
I do find book recommendations on Instagram.
That’s largely because it’s an image-driven platform and I’m always a sucker for a great book cover.
The social media platform I use most often is Facebook, and I get a lot of recommendations that way.
These recommendations are mostly from authors I follow, or from author interviews or book reviews that have been posted on blogs or websites then linked on Facebook.
I get almost no book recommendations from Facebook groups … mostly because I tend to join and spend time in groups that don’t permit authors to self-promote.
I’m also on Goodreads, which some people class as a social media platform.
I have used it that way in the past, but in recent years I’ve mostly been using it as a way to record what I’ve read.
Having said all that, I don’t consciously go onto Facebook (or any social media) to find book recommendations. It’s more that the recommendations find me, and I’m unwillingly forced to add yet another book to my never-ending to-read pile. #FirstWorldProblems.
