Honestly, I have been feeling that the integration with Kindle, and Amazon in general, is what killed it for me. They took an audience of bibliophiles (and their ratings) and expanded it to the mass market users, encouraging them to star and comment on what they just read.
What I'd really like is more access to the data and filtering mechanisms to try to build recommendations for myself.
Example: Find the highest rated books that I haven't read in the Fantasy category, as rated by an audience of people who have rated at least 7 out of 10 books from a list I provide with a score of 4 or higher, and who have never rated a Twilight book with a 3 or higher.
And if that doesn't work, maybe I tweak it a bit. Build a score threshold for excluding reviews from people based on other criteria about things I don't like. The point is that the data would help make the decisions..
Of course, that won't happen because of privacy concerns. With all the data locked up it means only Amazon can do it, and they're failing at it.
> Find the highest rated books that I haven't read in the Fantasy category, as rated by an audience of people who have rated at least 7 out of 10 books from a list I provide with a score of 4 or higher, and who have never rated a Twilight book with a 3 or higher.
People in many different jobs use Excel and SQL databases - I wonder if enough to make 'power user' but mass market apps with that sort of interface.
What I'd really like is more access to the data and filtering mechanisms to try to build recommendations for myself.
Example: Find the highest rated books that I haven't read in the Fantasy category, as rated by an audience of people who have rated at least 7 out of 10 books from a list I provide with a score of 4 or higher, and who have never rated a Twilight book with a 3 or higher.
And if that doesn't work, maybe I tweak it a bit. Build a score threshold for excluding reviews from people based on other criteria about things I don't like. The point is that the data would help make the decisions..
Of course, that won't happen because of privacy concerns. With all the data locked up it means only Amazon can do it, and they're failing at it.