As a starting point for discovering new books at the store.
Create a list of books that customers can browse at your retail store to find a book they already read. For each such book list suggestions for a new book they might want to read in the following format: if you liked this book because of X you might enjoy these books…” List potential books for each identifiable quality of the book they already read.
You are a tourist in visiting a new city and would like to know what other tourists are doing now, what is hot and what’s worth experiencing.
An app that you use to “check-in” at a place you currently are, and you think is good. This will create a map of current hot places worth visiting so other tourists can see where to go.
You are looking for a new gardening, cleaning, auto repair or other professional services.
Take the old model of asking your friends to a new level by having an online search functionality where you can ask a question like “show me a short list of all plumbers who have good reviews from my online friends.” This can be built on top of an existing social platform, by having a professional service review option. Professional services can have a presence (a company page on Facebook for instance), and people who use them can leave reviews. When you look for a new service provider, the system can then show you the top list based on people you trust – your online friends.
If you have an artist your work you admire, it might be interesting to know what he think are good books by or on other artists.
Publish daily lists of books recommended by an artist. Offer readers the option to search for artists and find who recommended their book or a book about them, and also find what recommendations that artist made. Have an option for the readers to get a daily email with the new lists.
There are so many genres in literature, and we tend to stick to only a few in our reading habits. Partly because if we try a book in another genre, many times we get disappointed and have a bad view of the whole genre. What if you could get to try something that you’ll have a much higher chance of liking?
A recommendation service based on analysis of your current likes and dislikes for books you have already read in your favorite genres. The more the system knows about your taste in the genres you like reading, the better it will be able to recommend to you what you would more likely enjoy in a new genre you would like to try.