Blog Post

Reap the Benefits of Social Reading

Jason BoogSep 5 2023

Reading together with friends, family, and co-workers is a great way to enjoy the full mental and physical benefits of reading. We call this “social reading.” The Fable app is built for social reading, with features for sharing highlights, comments, insights, links, pictures, and videos as you read together.With our new Fable For You feed, you'll meet countless other readers and enjoy the many health and wellness benefits of social reading. And your personal feed is only as good as the people you follow!

Six people you should meet on Fable

I'd like to introduce you to some great people to follow on Fable, deepening your connections with the community and helping you make new friends along the way.Diandra🌻: “Just a girl looking up and waiting for the stars to tell her what it means 🌙 Ambrosia_Books”The Library Prince: A prince who loves to read, mostly spooky and romance books in The Dark Library ClubTori Ross: A dedicated reader who started the excellent Catastrophically Classical book club. Andrea Clinton: A reader who found a place to vent, scream and rave about books, moderating the Clever Name TBD book club!Millie: In case you aren't aware, she loves books and moderates Milli’s Mini Library book clubKhilosia: A reader who is a bit dreamy and moderates the Read and Get Obsessed book club.

Why is social reading important?

Following other readers on your Fable For You feed will help you reap the many benefits of social reading. Professor Josie Billington has spent her whole career studying the connection between reading and mental health. Professor Billington helped pioneer “shared reading,” a social reading technique where groups gather to read a story together. This kind of social reading has been proven to “significantly lower” both depressive and anxious symptoms in readers. “It's a wonderful, inclusive model,” Professor Billington said, speaking at Fable’s Mental Health Awareness event. “People can come together and experience a book in real time.” For centuries, we have been sharing stories around the campfire. It’s one of the simplest forms of entertainment ever invented. Even before smartphones and social media, the benefits of reading together were clear to researchers. Organizations like The Reader, a U.K.-based charity that runs hundreds of reading groups around Europe, have championed social reading as a therapeutic practice. Here are a few benefits of social reading uncovered by recent research:

Five ways social reading can change your life

Reading for Digital Nutrition

Those benefits of social reading are just the beginning! There are plenty of wellness benefits associated with personal reading as well. In a world struggling with cognitive dissonance and toxic behaviors on social media, reading together can deliver digital nutrition.You can also explore thousands of book lists on Fable, decoding your personal taste with our guided recommendations. It’s easy to make your own list as well!

Make a great book list.

Just finished reading a book and have the urge to share your thoughts with the world? It’s time to write your review and highlight your favorite sentences! You can also import your Goodreads reviews to your Fable account!

Rate and review your favorite books!

We also make it easy to launch your free book club. With our platform, you can host every aspect of an online discussion at a single destination to reach readers and build safe online communities regardless of location or time zone.

Start your own book club today!

By Jason Boog

Jason Boog is a writer living in Los Angeles and part of the editorial team at Fable. OR Books published "The Deep End: The Literary Scene During the Great Depression and Today," his book about how different writers survived the Great Depression. Simon & Schuster’s Touchstone imprint published "Born Reading: Bringing Up Bookworms in a Digital Age," his handbook about how to raise kids who love to read. His work has appeared in The Believer, The Awl, Salon, NPR Books, The Los Angeles Review of Books, Peace Corps Writers, and other outlets. He was the West Coast correspondent for Publishers Weekly.