I was at the salon a few weeks ago and someone asked who ‘Chimamanda Adichie’ was? I blinked so many times, too many times for a normal human being. I am a literary lover and I believe that it should be a crime to be Nigerian and not know Chimamanda. The offending party in question was my hair dresser. To avoid wahala I described the Nigerian author over and over again until she discovered that she knew her by hearsay. Or maybe she just gave in so that she would make my hair without further interruptions.
Just as it is practically a taboo to be Nigerian and not know Chimamanda so it is to be a reader/leader and not know Book Vibe. Book Vibe is a software that does many things amongst which is to bring popular books to your notice. It brings new books to your attention as soon as they are out. It uses twitter and Facebook to study you, your likes; and then recommend books to you based on its findings.
Some of the favorite moments of 2014 for Book Vibe are:
- The enhanced cutting-edge Natural Language Processing technology that was introduced to its subscribers at the start of 2014. This amazing software spots all tweets about books amidst the noise that is Twitter (we still love it). This makes it possible for you to identify the tweets on a book page sorting through the people who want to read, buy, have read or are recommending a certain book to a friend or to their social media circle, a truly innovative way of monitoring the way the fans of an author or people in general, are responding to a specific book.
- In the middle of 2014 the app Book Vibe began supporting recommendations from Facebook and promptly sent out the information via newsletters to its subscribers. They were asked to get connected on Facebook and Twitter with their accounts to get tremendous benefits from using the app.
- Via social listening, the creative team compiled a list of the top ten books for the year 2014. They also publicized the personal thoughts of social media influencers such as Samantha Ronson and John McCain and their thoughts on the books they were reading.
- The spotlight was put on the blogs, bloggers and literary lovers with influence. They convened at the Book Expo America (BEA), only the largest annual publishing event in Northern America. There was a lot of “meet and greets”and bonding with people of same interests. There was loads of sharing success stories and more.
- Literary awards such as the National Book Awards, the Man Booker Prize took the forefront 2014. Books about beer, yes we said it, was celebrated in the month of October and Halloween books that cause the hairs on our napes to rise, followed shortly.
- Book Vibe participated in the “twaikus”, an interesting part of the agenda for the National Poetry Day. They also sent book after book of film adaptations so that you would be well rounded in your exposure to literary material.
To get the Book Vibe and start having amazing fun seeing all the latest books and from your favourite authors, type Book Vibe in Google, sign up and then connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts to it.
wahala: It means ‘conflict’
Tessa Doghor is a social media manager in Lagos. She blogs at http://www.imagineitincorporatedng.com and at http://www.awomanofsubstanceandcharacter.blogspot.com