Social Reading and Reading Groups: A Controversial Report?

Abstract

This article offers an evaluation of the introduction of social reading in Italy through the cross-analysis of two different contexts: the reading groups and the reader's community that discusses books online on the most common social book networks. How di groups relate to social reading platforms? The results of a survey conducted on a sample of reading groups, show that reading in the new virtual horizon offers many addictional opportunities. However, thay can't replace the face-to-face reading experience yet: the challenge for the near future might be to reproduce on the web some dynamics of the reading groups interaction.