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. Shelfari was founded by RealNetworks alumni Josh Hug, Kevin... Beukelman, and Mark Williamson under the name Tastemakers Inc., the former two being software developers and the latter never joining the company full time. The site 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 and moved to acquire it a year later in August 2008.
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