You might be wondering how on earth are these two apps related to each other. Yeah, these two apps are solving extremely different problems. Google Maps has been a valuable tool for many people, helping them navigate new or unfamiliar locations, providing real-time traffic updates, exploring neighborhoods, and more. On the other hand, Goodreads is the largest website for book readers and recommendations in the world.
But if one delves deep into it, there are interesting similarities in the way these two apps engage their users.
In this post, I attempted to draw some fascinating parallels between the strategies of Google Maps and Goodreads to prompt engagement.
Let’s first start looking at the broad offerings and the way they are portrayed on the Apps.
Comparison of the Offerings : Maps Vs Goodreads
What’s similar in both:
| Offering Category | Google Maps | Goodreads |
| Explore / Discover | Search for Business, Places, Navigation; Advertisements from Businesses; | Search about Authors / Books; Advertisements from Authors/Publishers; |
| You | Create Travel Lists; Want-to-travel list; Travel Timeline (Tracking); Set Feed preferences; | Create Book Shelves (Lists); Want-to-read book list; Reading Challenge (Tracking); Set feed preferences; |
| Socialize | Contribute to Maps by adding reviews, photos; What’s latest in your area; Updates from Local Guide; Local Guide Clubs / Connects; Promoted reviews about business; | Post comments related to reading; Updates from Authors; Book Clubs/Groups; Promoted reviews about books; |
| Rewards for Active Community Members | Top Local Guides incentives; Top Contributors incentives; | Top Reviewers incentives; Top Readers incentives; |
What’s not in Maps but in Goodreads: {Potential Features for G-Maps in future?}
| Offering Category | Google Maps (Potential Features) | Goodreads (Features available) |
| Explore / Discover | Travel News about popular places??; Influencers interviews about popular places??; | News/Interviews about Author / Influencers; |
| You | Curated/Recommended Travel lists??; Where your friends are going this holidays??; Where your celebrities are going this holidays??; | Recommended book lists; What your friends are reading; What your celebrities are reading; |
| Socialize | Top Contributors this week??; Top Photos this week??; Top Reviews this week??; Yearly Best Business/Places award through traveler/user votes??; | Top Reviewers this week; Top Authors this week; Yearly Best book Awards through reader votes; |
The tables above show the similarities and differences between these two apps.
Although Maps may take a different direction in the future, but the goal here is to highlight the similarity in user engagement patterns between these two apps, even though they belong to different industries and solve different problems.