(Chinese Version)

 “Borrowing books can create chances for two readers to know about each other. For those lovers who find it hard to open their hearts, books might be a perfect bridge.”

Qian Zhongshu, an honored writer in China, once claimed that he would “conquer the library in Tsinghua University.” In his book Fortress Besieged, Qian said that books have bridged the distance between many couples.

Qian is not alone. In Love Letter, directed by Shunji Iwai, a shy boy called Fuji Tsuki wrote the name of a girl he loved on library cards in different books. Actually, books have been used by many authors to connect two characters. First they are merely strangers but finally they get together through books.

In the pre-Internet world where there were no WeChat, blog or Qzone, book was one of the few things that could reflect a person’s characters and test if two persons can get along.

At that time, you wouldn’t be able to know who was reading the same book as you did. You were like Robinson, who lived on a lonely island and could only communicate with the author. Now with the help of the Internet, readers can fraternize with other people through reading books. Geographic distance is no longer a problem, because people could meet in an online spiritual world.

Such idea is romantic but the reality is harsh today, whether on Douban Read or other reading Apps, we can easily spot some social elements. However, few people seem to buy it. If we add such elements into Wechat Read, will it be possible

Douban Read: Every book is a room

Amazon started from selling books. Its founder Jeff Bezos, however, is not a fan of books at all. The reason why he utilized books as his “first stepping stone to rule the world” is that books are standardized, easy to be stored and transported. Unfortunately, once popular offline book stores are becoming the first wave of victims under the influence of digitalization.

Amazon, the biggest book store in the world, is not like the offline stores that can serve as a place for people to meet with each other. What people do most on Amazon’s message board is to complain about its bad package and transportation while very few readers bother to discuss about the content of a book. Anyway, Amazon is not a crowded book fair. On the contrary, it’s a visual book store where people click their mouse and search for books in parallel spaces.  

Douban was created by Bo Yang in 2005 and it believes that “people could build their social networks through items, such as a book”. On Douban, every book is a “room” that allows people from different “spaces” to come in and leave their traits (comments, opinions, discussions, etc.) while other people could trace such information back to the commenter’s personal page, where his interests, reading preferences and thoughts are fully exhibited.

In each “room”, readers could estimate the value of a book through other users’ comments, find out what books they might be interested in by referring to other users’ personal pages, and if possible, leave their comments as references for other readers. One might find someone who actually shares the same interests with him and send a message to the stranger, just like starting a conversation in the subway with the guy who happens to be reading his favorite book.

Simple as it may sound, not everyone would find it easy to do so. On the subway, it might be okay to talk to the guy who happens to be reading a book you are also interested in because he is an actual person. But in Douban’s rooms of different books, you have to deal with those cold and emotionless words. What usually happens is that while you are reading others’ comments and trying to share your thoughts with them, they might have forgotten what this book is about. Besides, there is no way to figure out who is behind those words, because you could not tell from mere words his or her height, appearance, whether he or she has a sense of humor and if you could have a nice conversation. Compared to SNS where one can get to know other by referring to their photos, recent updates and personal information, Douban Read is more “implicit”. You have to figure out a lot of information through guessing.

On Douban Read, it is easy to find comments on a book, but hard to actually find someone to discuss with the book with you right now.

In that sense, the discussion board under each book is usually useless. Even though Douban includes an “instant discussion” function into its mobile App, it is still far away from forging a real reading seminar. On Douban App, most people are more like talking to themselves while the rest are always asking for some boring questions.

Why readers prefer online literature?

There are 4046 people reading Perfect World, 3190 after Big Killer and 2562 after Hitting the Sky. On The book of God, another reading app, there are more than 20 novels that have more than 1000 fans, which forms a stark contrast with Douban Read.

Similar to American TV series’ fans, online readers will also discuss about each episode nearly every day. When there is no update, people on The book of God will urge the author to update the latest chapter.

Two months ago, Tangjiasanshao and Jiang Nan started to upgrade their novels on their Weibo accounts. Since then, their Weibo accounts are conquered by thousands of readers with hundreds of messages generated every day.

 “Shocked by the vehemence of readers, I dare not kill my characters in the next chapter”. Jiang Nan expressed how “public” opinions could change the course of plot.

In the past, books have fixed characters and settled results. Online literature, however, is highly flexible, since readers could pour their comments after reading the freshly published chapter. Douban Read is more like a single room and readers are sometimes isolated while online literature can always give readers a thrill.

What can bullet screen do?

The book we feel related at 20s might seem boring when we hit 40. People’s reading preferences change, so does life.  (321 people underlined)

I’ve just finished reading a popular book called Bookstore on an Island on Kindle and found that the above sentence was underlined by 321 people. I cannot imagine what would happen if it’s an actual book.

The 321 underlines mean nothing to me. It feels awkward when I am asked what book I like most.

On the other hand, Douban Read has done a better job in bullet screen. On Douban Read, not only those popular lines but every comment can be viewed by readers. However, sometimes too many comments can be as frustrating.

The truth is that reading screen bullet is now as that welcomed.

When reading those cold, static words, readers have to stay focused while watching videos requires less attention. You can follow the stream of plot and watch other people’s comments simultaneously.

Moreover, bullet screen on videos is like a party for young people to send funny messages, such as “Who is speaking?”, “Please tell me where does bgm come from?”, and “Say hello to our new friend!” etc. While people are less engaged in sharing reading opinions and if they do, it’s nothing more than an attempt to communicate with the author.

Why can’t the Internet connect readers?

While Douban fails to take the advantage of mobile Internet, its derivatives, such as Douban Read, are doing a better job. It cannot be ignored that Douban Read has been downloaded for more than 500,000times.

Still, Douban Read has underperformed on mobile terminals. It’s even impossible to check out a reader’s photo on Douban App. That might explain why not many people use Douban Read on their mobile phones.

Quite a few media agencies threw vicious titles on Douban and believed that it’s going to die sooner or later. But it cannot be ignored that Douban still have a say in the literature market. Though we can choose whatever platforms we want to read a book, we still resort to Douban to evaluate books.

Another reading App Duokan tried to incorporate some social elements in 2013. On Duokan, readers can achieve most they can do on Facebook. Finger Read, however, goes to the opposite direction and only allows for reading.

Eight months after incorporating social elements, Hu Xiaodong, the founder of Duokan, told the public that Duokan failed to live up to his expectation. Readers didn’t socialize on Duokan the way he expected but they tended to exchange ideas on book excerpts. Finger Read, however, became a really small, restricted circle for a few readers.

Why can’t readers form a dynamic circle on the Internet? And why are readers more silent than foodies and selfie takers? Today, the biggest online reader community is still Douban.

When talking about readers’ circle, about it always occurs to me the Bloomsbury Group in the 1920s and the Crescent Moon Society established by Lin Huiyin. Nowadays, people pay less attention to their spiritual world, and only those real book lovers cherish such circle. For most people, they have no reading preferences and reading is recreational, thus forming such circle is unnecessary.

Interest-oriented social networking, whether through music, films, or books, is doomed to be forged only among hardcore fans.

Why active readers on Douban Read don’t use reading Apps much? Because the books on many reading Apps such as Duokan and Finger Read, even Douban, are too general to attract hardcore Douban readers.

WeChat Read is connecting readers

If I am not a user of Xiaomi Bracelet, I would never know that there are actually 78 “sports lovers” around me (Though half of them only walk less than 5000 steps per day). I will check out the rank at around 10 pm every day and give a “virtual” thumb-up to those who walk more than 20000 steps that day. Sometimes I strive to walk more in order to be the number one.

Not everyone is quite satisfied with the number one and one of my friends offered three suggestions to get rid of the number one: you could either put him into the blacklist (not recommended), or exercise more and surpass him (recommended) or simply try to make him have a girlfriend (strongly recommended).

It is said that WeChat is testing its own reading App: WeChat Read. If possible, next time when you are checking out your WeChat status, you might be able to know what books your friends are reading, their recommendations and even exchange books with them. You could also compete with your friends over who read most this week.

“Reading a book can bring you some extra recreation but is far from supporting one relationship.” I am quite impressed by a comment on A Bookstore on an Island. For most people, reading books are like lubricates in their personal relationships while there is no friendship that is solely based on reading.

Making new friends through reading is good, and enhancing existed friendship with books is even more wonderful. Maybe your colleagues, classmates and relatives could have a new understanding of you through the books you are reading. Besides putting on selfies, food and your children on Facebook, reading gives other people a chance to look at your spiritual world. Maybe someday you could find a contact in your phone who actually has the same reading preferences.

Reading can enhance mutual trust between two people. Hopefully, sharing book information on WeChat Read can rejuvenate your friend circle, which might have been conquered by commercial information.

WeChat Read remains to be tested. The diversity of books and reading experience determines whether it will succeed or not.

Whether WeChat will make a difference or not, it might be the first time for readers to form a dynamic circle on the Internet.

[The article is published and edited with authorization from the author @Zhang Yuan, please note source and hyperlink when reproduce.]

Translated by Jackie Jia (Senior translator at Echo), working for TMTpost.