You are what you read

Just read a blog by Vladis Krebs in The Network Thinkers on how Amazon might use its knowledge of what people read in their Kindle books and what they like to buy to make social links between readers (and profit).

We will connect with each other via our similarities and profit from our differences... and so will Amazon! We are all nodes in the Amazon network/jungle. ... Today, Amazon introduces you to similar books. Tomorrow, they will introduce you to similar readers. The Next Big Thing.

I wondered how such networking could be achieved in the academic literature. What I read at some stage in my career is probably something that somebody else, at the same stage in their career with similar interests, might be interested in. Readers of academic journals probably have different tacit social similarities which, if identified, could be stimulated into social groups or even communities of practice.

Not as much commenting goes on in the academic literature, compared to Kindle readers' notes, but they do bookmark, collate and tweet references. PubMed presumably has a good idea of what its registered users are interested in.