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TheFutureofReadingandPublishingisSocial

ByTripAdler 
ScribdCEO&Co-Founder
WhenScribdlaunchedin2007,ourgoalwastomakewrittenmaterialaseasytopublishanddiscoverasablog.Sothatanauthor,student,businesspersonoranyoneelsewantingtosharetheirworkcouldfindreaders–nomatterwhoorwheretheywere–throughtheinherentefficienciesoftheInternet.Atfirst,thismeantfiguringouthowtoconvertdocumentsintowebpagesandthengettingthemindexedbysearchenginessothatanyoneseekinginformationaboutthelatestresearchinparticlephysics,forexample,couldeasilyfindtherelevantreportonScribd.We’velearnedalotoverthelastthreeyears,especiallywithourtransitionfromaFlashtoHTML5readingexperience.Atthesametime,itbecameclearearlyonthatwecouldn’trelyonsearchaloneifwewantedtocreateadynamicreadingexperience.Todothat,weneededtotapintothesocialgraph,whichwasstartingtoplayanimportantroleincontentdiscovery.Thishasbecomeeventruertoday.Eventoday,contentrecommendationsmadethroughpopularsocialnetworkslikeFacebookandTwitterfocusprimarilyonnewsandshort-formvideo,socialgamesandweblinks.Andalways,thecontentissecondarytothepersonmakingtherecommendation.Scribdisfocusingonthecontentitself,andit’sobviousthere’samarketdemand;
social 
traffictoScribdhasdoubledeverysixweekssincewelaunchedReadcast earlierthisyear.
BuildingaSocialNetworkAroundReading
Overthelastfewyears,Scribdhastakenseveralmajorstepstowardmakingwrittencontentmore“social”–addingafeedintothesitedesign,integratingwithFacebookandTwitter,convertingdocumentsintopagesthatareeasiertosharethroughHTML5.
 
Inotherwords,we’vemadetheprocessofreadingandsharinglong-formwrittencontentlessonedimensionalandmoreimmediateandcontextuallyrelevant.Today,welaunchedanothermajorsiteredesign–oneofseveraloverthelastfewyears.Howisthisonedifferent?It’sthefirsttimeScribdislivinguptoitspotentialasatrulysocialsiteforreading.Here’swhyasocialnetworkaroundreadingmakessomuchsense:
●
 
ThenatureofinteractionsonScribdisdifferentfromothersocialnetworks.Peoplearemorelikelytopublishandmorelikelytosharewhatthey’rereadingbecausethat'swhatScribdisdesignedtodowell.Asidefromthefactthattherearebillionsofreadersintheworldandalimitlesspoolofnewcontent,
Scribdisgrowingexponentiallybecauseitmakessensethatpeopleconnectthroughcommonreadinginterests
(e.g.,vampirefanfiction,poetry,comicbooks,scientificpapers).Thinkofitasmillionsofvirtual,globalbookclubsbutforanytypeofwrittencontentorsubjectmatter.
●
 
WhilethemajorityofScribd's50millionmonthlyusersjustreadonthesiteanddon’tparticipatesocially,havingacoregroupofsocialuserswhoareactivelyengagedinourcommunityisessentialtopoweringthesiteandkeepingourcorpusofcontentgrowingandthriving.
Astrong,activecommunityismorelikelytopublishandsharequalitycontent
,whichresultsinmorereaderswhoactivelypublishandsoon.Infact,thereweremorethan
10million
sharingeventsonScribdinAugustalone;weexpectthisnumbertoincreasesignificantlywiththeredesign.
●
 
Makingthesitesocialincreasesthewaysinwhichcontentis
discoveredanddistributed
,whichisthe#1reasonpeoplepublishonScribd.WhileYouTubemakesshort-formvideosgoviralandTwittermakesbreakingnewsgoviral,Scribdhasmadecourtfilings,books,andevenscientificpapersgoviral.We’re clearlyaddressinganeedoradesireforpeopletosharetheseothercontenttypes.

 
ScribdRedesign101
Scribd'snewdesignismeanttotakealltheseconceptsandpackagethemtogetherintoasimplifieddesignthatencouragessocialinteraction.I’llhighlighttwoimportantchanges:
THEFEED
:Scribd'sfeedisactuallyquiteunique.WhilefeedsonsiteslikeFacebookandTwitterfocusonthepeopleinyournetwork,
Scribd'snewfeedbringsyourfriends’readingactivitytotheforefront.
Weuseyournetworktohelpsurfacethecontentthatshouldappearinyourfeed,turningyoursocialnetworkintoapersonalizedcontentrecommendationengine.
Forexample,we’vechangedthehomepageandprofilepagesfromathree-columntoatwo-columnlayoutwiththecontentanditsevents(publishing,commenting,readcasting)takingcenterstage.Thedocumentthumbnailsaremuchbigger,andthefeeditselfismoretargeted,basedontheactivityofyourfriendsandotherrecommendationalgorithms.Inaddition,we’vemadeiteasierforuserstointeractandsharecontentimmediatelyfromtheirpersonalizedhomepagefeed.
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