Shelfari

Shelfari is a social cataloging website for books. Shelfari users build virtual bookshelves of the titles they own or have read, and can rate, review, tag, and discuss their books. Users can also create groups that other members may join, create discussions, and talk about books, or other topics. Recommendations can be sent to friends on the site for what books to read.

Shelfari was launched on October 11, 2006. In February 2007, Amazon.com invested $1 million in Shelfari, and moved to acquire it a year later in August 2008.

As of January 2016, the site hosts a notification announcing "Shelfari is merging with Goodreads".

History

Shelfari was founded by RealNetworks alumni Josh Hug and Kevin Beukelman (both software developers), and Mark Williamson (who never joined the company full-time) under the name Tastemakers, Inc., along with designer Ian Patterson. Tastemakers sought to create a social networking service that met the needs of avid readers. This strategy may have mirrored a trend during this time period of creating niche social networks such as social movie site Flixster. Once Shelfari received its first equity fund raise in early 2007 the company grew to five employees, including software developer Kevin Durdle, designer Timothy Gray, and VP of marketing Dave Hanley. In August 2008, the company was acquired by Amazon.com, also a Seattle, Washington company, and the team was integrated into the book technology group.