
Otis Chandler believed this rating system would be superior to Amazon's, as Amazon's includes books a user has browsed or purchased as gifts when determining its recommendations. In 2011, Goodreads acquired Discovereads, a book recommendation engine that employs "machine learning algorithms to analyze which books people might like, based on books they've liked in the past and books that people with similar tastes have liked." After a user has rated 20 books on its five-star scale, the site will begin making recommendations. In October 2010, the company opened its application programming interface, which enabled developers to access its ratings and titles. This funding lasted Goodreads until 2009, when Goodreads received two million dollars from True Ventures. In December 2007, the site received funding estimated at $750,000 from angel investors. During its first year of business, the company was run without any formal funding. Eventually, it gained attention through the media such as Mashable and other various blogs. Early years īefore gaining much traction, Otis and Elizabeth Chandler grew the platform through their friends of friends where it reached 800 users. Goodreads addressed what publishers call the " discoverability problem" by guiding consumers in the digital age to find books they might want to read. He wanted to integrate this scanning experience and to create a space where people could write reviews regarding the books that they read. The idea came about when Otis Chandler was browsing through his friend's bookshelf. Chandler is a descendant of the publisher of the Los Angeles Times Otis Chandler. Chandler and Khuri both grew up in California. After university Chandler initially worked as a programmer in on-line businesses, including dating sites, and Khuri Chandler as a journalist. Goodreads founders Otis Chandler and Elizabeth Khuri Chandler first met while studying at Stanford (Engineering and English respectively). īy July 2019, the site had 90 million members. On March 28, 2013, Amazon announced its acquisition of Goodreads, and by July 23, 2013, Goodreads announced their user base had grown to 20 million members. By July 2012, the site reported 10 million members, 20 million monthly visits, and thirty employees. In December 2007, the site had 650,000 members and 10,000,000 books had been added. Goodreads was founded in December 2006 and launched in January 2007 by Otis Chandler and Elizabeth Khuri Chandler. The website's offices are located in San Francisco. They can also create their own groups of book suggestions, surveys, polls, blogs, and discussions. Users can sign up and register books to generate library catalogs and reading lists. Goodreads is an American social cataloging website and a subsidiary of Amazon that allows individuals to search its database of books, annotations, quotes, and reviews.
