If I were GR, that number being so low - relative to their boasted membership numbers - would concern me.
They didn't loose a ton of members (I think) after the Censorship Follies of 2013, but they did loose a lot of highly active ones. Ones who reviewed, commented, ran groups, were librarians, and were passionate members. Ones who punched over their weight, to use a boxing phrase.
My impression is that the ones they've gained are not as active as either reviewers or socially.
And the "X million" figure they brag about has always been suspect in my view. I consider my own household: 3 of 4 of us have GR memberships. I'm the only one who's signed on this year (certainly calendar, and I believe also in terms of 12 months or more), and the only one who's ever written a review there. (And I don't even write long reviews as a general rule; certainly not compared to many here.)
Well, a lot of folk who didn't leave stayed because had too much data to lose, invested too much time in their goodreads "my books" catalogs, loved their groups and friends -- but, like me, didn't add new content, keep reviewing or otherwise be active on goodreads outside of their groups and book catalog. I did stop being a librarian the day Amazon sale officially announced just because I don't work unpaid for retail magnates -- least of all one that in the takeover insisted a random seller's used book ad could overwrite publisher feed data or librarian edits of multi-paragraph book description with "like new with dustjacket see my excellent seller rating" because anything on Amazon was the holiest of holies while librarians were mistrusted drudges ...
I deleted all my reviews on GR in 2013 and hadn't been back there in ages (let alone done any librarian edits or any other such stuff) before returning recently, just to create backup friendship links with some people, as a result of Leafmarks's demise and BookLIkes's hickups. Guess what? GR is still showing me as the #1 librarian in Germany. That, to me, speaks volumes in and of itself.
It's also interesting considering GR counts anything in the review box as a review. For example, it counts me as having many more reviews that I really do, as I'll often use the review box to do things like alert people if a book is on sale that day.
Count me among GR users that don't review. I rate just to remind myself if I like that author's work or not. I can't trust GR, authors, or fangirls/fanboys to come after me.
They didn't loose a ton of members (I think) after the Censorship Follies of 2013, but they did loose a lot of highly active ones. Ones who reviewed, commented, ran groups, were librarians, and were passionate members. Ones who punched over their weight, to use a boxing phrase.
My impression is that the ones they've gained are not as active as either reviewers or socially.
And the "X million" figure they brag about has always been suspect in my view. I consider my own household: 3 of 4 of us have GR memberships. I'm the only one who's signed on this year (certainly calendar, and I believe also in terms of 12 months or more), and the only one who's ever written a review there. (And I don't even write long reviews as a general rule; certainly not compared to many here.)