Turning the (web)page
By Matteo Berlucchi, CEO, Anobii
In 2012 there will be many pages turned at Anobii and I thought it would be good for you to hear an update from me about what has been happening behind those bookshelves.
As you will have surely noted if you are based in the UK, we have launched a new website replacing the existing anobii.com. This new site has different functionality from the previous one but worry not, there is a good reason for everything! Here’s a bit of explanation into why the two sites are very different and how they will converge in the future.
Old code = lots of problems
The original Anobii website was built in 2006, the same year when Facebook was launched! As technologies move on, the site ended up being quite tired from a technical perspective and the increased traffic resulted in a rapid decline in performance.
Our team in London started rebuilding the platform from the ground up in late spring 2011 and our strategy has expanded from the original idea of ‘listing your books and finding similar people’ to include buying ebooks and collaborating with the rest of the community in grouping books in logical segments that we call ‘topics’.
Here’s a simple comparison table
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We have decided to focus on the new functionality first and then go back and add the old functionality a piece at the time. We estimate that the majority of the work will be finished in the next 3 months at which point we will have most of the original functionality plus the new features on the new platform.
As with books, we got to the point where we had to turn the page in order for Anobii to grow into a sustainable business.
Your books and data is the same and won’t be lost
We are building the new site off the existing database so all of the data that you have built over time is still there. If you add a new book to your Anobii library it will be visible on both the original and the new site. All your reviews, friends, etc. are all there and still accessible from the old site. We are going to run the two sites in parallel for the foreseeable future so if you don’t like the new site you are welcome to switch to the old one but do come back regularly as we are adding lots of great new stuff to the new site and we are confident we will win most hearts and minds.
If you like Facebook
We are making it even easier for Facebook users to enjoy Anobii directly inside Facebook. Greg and his team in Hong Kong are working very hard porting every piece of functionality from Anobii directly into Facebook. Check out their work in progress - it looks great!
Together we find better books
Our focus remains the discovery of great books and we believe that the new platform will allow us to help readers find even better titles, people and topics.
We have also refreshed our look with a simpler logo and a cleaner interface and colour scheme. We know that what really counts is the functionality we offer (as they say “the food matters more than the plate”), but a clean interface helps with usability. We like the new look quite a lot and we hope you like it too.
(The new icon with the two ii’s in anobii which recall two people to highlight the social nature of the service)
We hope you will stay with us during this exciting journey through 2012 which will take us to a more grown up and enjoyable Anobii. We are sure to make mistakes, oversee or underestimate things so we need the watchful eye of our community to help us. Please let us know what you think or if you see/think of anything that can make the service better for you and your friends.
Remember that only together we can find better books!
Matteo
Anobii.com
