Shelf is a social network that depends on the material you consume

Social media has become increasingly homogenized, with everything from text to short videos on every platform, and algorithms often eclipsing creativity. In this ubiquitous environment, it's harder than ever to get an accurate sense of someone's vibe before deciding whether to follow them. Create a "store" that has been personalized in the media habits, and enter SHELF, an application that can contact others according to movies, shows, books, games, and consumed music.

 You can also follow your progress by reading your favorite books or watching trend shows. "If you observe culture generally on the Internet, you will get out of the self -reading of my film criticism, or get out of the selfie publications for reading screenshots. In fact, it is deeper to humans. I'm trying to understand what this is  what is the regiment? Interview. Esber grew up writing poetry online anonymously, then spent the early years of his career on YouTube in London from 2015 to 2018. During that time, he worked in the content creation department of a Google subsidiary, helping people create content, grow their audience, and monetize their work. This was a time when YouTube was expanding its creator ecosystem in various emerging markets outside the U.S.

After working at Google for over three years, the Cambridge graduate returned to academia and joined Harvard University to study Internet consumer trends and Internet academic research. This ultimately helped him conceptualize Shelf in a market filled with social media apps with millions and billions of users. How does it work?

Available on iOS and Android, the Shelf app lets you connect your media accounts, including Apple Music, Goodreads, Netflix, Spotify, and YouTube, and then creates a customizable “showcase” web page that automatically updates based on your consumption progress. You can also manually add links to any other internet service to your virtual bookshelf, even links to your favorite TechCrunch articles that you can showcase to your followers.

The New York-based startup also plans to expand its list of supported services, including Steam for gamers. “[As people and as people online, we’re very diverse. We’re not just interested in music, movies, shows, and everything. "Adding support for specific categories broadens our user base, but also deepens the experience for existing users," Esber said.

You can choose your digital shelf URLs based on your preferences. Likewise, the app lets you customize the interface by changing the background color and moving items depending on your taste. Koodos plans to monetize Shelf by offering new customization options. It also allows apps to explore the monetized information they surface, Esber told TechCrunch.

Unlike applications that use APIs to call data, Shelf works whether or not a platform has its own API. Typically, when a user selects a third-party service like Spotify or Apple Music from the Shelf UI, they are redirected to that app or sign in via a pop-up screen. Once the user is signed in, Esber can get all the information about the user's media consumption directly from the app. Esber also said the startup isn't using data Shelf pulls from app-based lists of service users to train its AI, as is now commonplace for online platforms.

The data sharing is made possible through a technology called DataMovers, and Koodos is working with other apps to expand the solution (though Esber declined to say which ones). He compares DataMover with the data transfer network for fintech Plaid. “In a similar way, we’re affording that user provision access to data to other applications, too,” he said. Private experience in testing phase

In addition to allowing users to create public storefronts, Shelf has begun testing a private experience for some users who want to track their own media consumption without sharing. “We intend to provide a fun utility that everyone can use for the long term. Everyone has a bookshelf in their living room or in their home, so why can't everyone have a shelf? " - said Esber.

Launched publicly this summer after its beta testing at the end of last year, Shelf has added half a billion items by its users. Esber declined to share user numbers but said the number of shelves on the app is growing by 40% month-to-month and that users visit Shelf an average of five times a week to check in on or update their digital shelves or keep up with others’ shelves. Koodos has raised a total of $7 million from investors including First Round Capital, M13, Blockchain Capital, IDEO, and founders of companies like Zynga and VSCO, as well as Pinterest co-founder Evan Sharp, Dubsmash co-founder (and now Reddit VP) Suchit Dash, and Harvard market design pioneers Professors John Dayton and Scott Cominers.