Book lovers’ social net Shelfari has raised a $1 million first round from Amazon.com and others, according to John Cook’s Venture Blog. The company is headed by Josh Hug, the former director of device engineering at RealNetworks. In a profile Cook did last October for the Seattle P-I, Hug’s comments seemed to suggest that he was specifically targeting Amazon’s customers. “When you look at a book on Amazon, yes, you see a lot of people who have commented on that book, but you don’t really have a relationship with those people. They might be thorough opinions or reviews, but a review by someone you know or associate with would carry a lot more weight with consumers. That’s what we are building on.”
Amazon has been placing a number of what Cook calls “bets on Web 2.0 companies,” in recent months, most notably Atomic Moguls and Wikia.
Related:
—Amazon.com’s Investment In Wikia: $10 Million; Developing Wiki-Based Search Engine