Friday, September 13, 2013
Now boarding: a Twitter book club for commuters
A new book club on Twitter, the Rail Book Club, has been launched, hoping to bring passenger reviews and book recommendations to commuters via digital screens in stations throughout the country.
Look around any train carriage during rush hour and you'll rarely see a bored face, according to outdoor advertising company JCDecaux, which is behind the club. It estimates that 81% of train commuters read on their journeys every week, and 38% of these use an e-reader.
So it follows that when looking for a new book to read on the way to work, a fellow passenger will probably have a pretty good recommendation. That, at least, is the thinking behind Rail Book Club, which invites passengers to tweet their recommendations to @Railbookclub, which is running a selection of the best book suggestions across its national network of station screens.
Paul Carolan, Commercial Director of JCDecaux, said: "If you're wondering what book to read next, then @Railbookclub is for you. Our Connected Commuter research showed that rail passengers love books, with the vast majority reading during their commute, so launching @Railbookclub and linking it to our digital screens in stations was a natural step.
"This new book club community is part of our strategy to bring content to our screens that enhances the passenger journey, building communities though people's passions and providing a daily source of inspiration for the rail audience. We'd like to become the go-to book club for commuters with the potential to publish daily extracts of books on our screens in the future."
The @Railbookclub community currently has 2094 followers and is expected to grow.Today is Roald Dahl day, and the Rail Book Club team is celebrating the event with a prize, according to an earlier tweet today: "Most creative re-written Dahl book in Twitter form wins a box set of his books! #BookClubShorts".
And the best entry so far? "An odd man in the confectionery trade invents Total Wipeout years early to find his successor....#bookclubshorts" from Ade Couper @bigade1665
Source : http://telegraph.feedsportal.com/c/32726/f/568414/s/3132b2c7/sc/38/l/0L0Stelegraph0O0Cculture0Cbooks0Cbooknews0C10A30A69450CNow0Eboarding0Ea0ETwitter0Ebook0Eclub0Efor0Ecommuters0Bhtml/story01.htm
