Kindle's v2.5 firmware upgrade & social networking

Kindle's v2.5 firmware upgrade in May will introduce some interesting new features that may play a part in how we read books in the future.

• Share book passages with friends on Facebook and Twitter directly from your Kindle. 
• Popular Highlights: See what the Kindle community thinks are the most interesting passages in the books you're reading. 

Variations on the book club appear all over the web in various formats. I am impressed by very well written and thoroughly researched reviews, even if they sometimes go over my head. I'd like to write quality in-depth reviews myself but they are beyond my ability and the time I'm willing to put into it. The quality or applicability of comments/reviews found on Amazon, in chat rooms, newsgroups, or forums range from excellent to execrable.

When reading on my ebookwise I often highlight words I'm not familiar with (or misspelled words for that matter), as well as passages that are either very good or very bad. When I'm done with the book the markup is never used for anything -- yet I continue to do it.

I think Amazon may have hit upon something here, tapping a body of knowledge that is not yet represented on the web. Readers, for the most part, can't be bothered with writing a review or commenting on a book. If the reading process itself can be modified to make it easy to share your impressions as you are reading we get two benefits: the "raw data" of passages that readers find interesting, and the impetus for people to work up the energy to express their opinions about a book.

Hopefully, if the experiment works, we can see a future where all readers on all devices can share their interesting passages. If anything, it can be a valuable resource for finding the good bits of the next potboiler or bodice ripper you plan on reading.