Borders bookstores, despite having the an incredibly powerful name, has struggled financially. As part of its effort to turn things around, it just announced a joint project with the social media Web site Gather.com.
Borders customers who sign up for informational e-mails will be offered links to the Borders.Gather.com chat room where users can share their thoughts on favorite books. The site will also include author info--such as interviews and author readings. And Borders.Gather.com users can also accumulate points for gift cards.
From this article:
"The power of social networking and social media is changing the way companies interact with their customers," Gather.com CEO Tom Gerace said Tuesday in a statement. "Borders is a brand that appeals to highly educated and highly informed adults who are the core of the Gather.com community."
I checked out the Gather site for the first time, and it looks like a nice, upscale, clean version of other anything-goes social media sites. Yet another way to build communities around books...
