The Amazon Kindle e-reading app for iOS has a new feature, which is quite exciting. You can turn any quote an ebook to an image and then share it via social media, email or apps such as Whatsapp. All you need to do to get started is make sure your app is running version 6.26 and then open an ebook. Next, highlight a specific word or block of text. There is a new feature on the far right which will give you a bunch of background options and how the text will look. It will provide the quote, the book name and a hashtag #kindlequotes. It will then give you a rundown of all the social media apps you have installed on your phone, such as Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, etc. You can also send the image via SMS or dedicated communication apps such as Line. Simply click on the social platform it will be instantly shared.
I think this is a neat little system that should get people sharing quotes or book passages with your friends. The Kindle app and e-readers used to have social sharing on them, but it was only relegated to Facebook or Twitter and did not take into account all of the different communication apps that a modern smartphone has. It is a step in the right direction and a welcome feature.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.