Goodreads lockdown

Goodreads is a bad social network. The new problem this week is they’ve disabled RSS feeds. This on the back a change six months ago that requires you be logged in to read a review. Goodreads seems to think it owns the words I write for them and allow them to show. Or at least they’ve stopped the bargain of publishing those words for me. I’ve taken control back and am now hosting my own book reviews (yes, with a feed). A simpler option for most people is to use a competitor. The StoryGraph is the best established but has ~5M users compared to GoodReads 150M. The other alternatives are even smaller. And for a social network user size is very important, it’s a natural monopoly. That monopoly is why Amazon should never have been allowed to buy Goodreads. And they’ve been a terrible steward. They invest just enough in the platform to keep it alive to make sure no competitor can grow in its shadow. The most innovation we’ve seen from them is finding new ways to jealously lock up the…