Amazon Kindle Is Slowly Getting More Social

From the day Kindle was launched, we were hoping for Amazon to build a social network around the device. Amazon has slowly accomplished just that. Kindle.amazon.com is a social network that allows e-book lovers to connect with others and study the public notes of their contacts. Just like Twitter or G+, members of this community can follow others who interest them. Users can connect their Twitter and Facebook accounts to this social network and share their updates on those networks.

The social network is not without its problems though. Apparently, Amazon has recently made some changes to how kindle.amazon.com works. Users who connect their Twitter/Facebook accounts to this social network will end up following people they follow on those networks. Amazon is clear how this process works:

As a convenience, whenever a Facebook friend starts to use kindle.amazon.com, or you become friends on Facebook with someone who already uses kindle.amazon.com, we’ll make sure that you follow them here too.

Kindle.amazon.com is not a new idea by any means. At the same time, Amazon needed a way to make the community look more vibrant. I am not sure grabbing information from Twitter and Facebook the way it is currently done is going to excite too many Kindle fans. Unlike NOOK Friends, this service does not currently fully support e-book lending either. Amazon may be great at building e-book readers but developing social networks is not its core competency and it shows.