Between choice aid and the extension of literary pleasure: rare and differentiated uses of online recommendation

Abstract

Readers of novels are confronted both with a plethora of supply - which makes it necessary to resort to judgment devices to find their way there - and with a great diversity of prescriptions and recommendations relating to the latter. This article proposes to return to the question of online recommendation by questioning the uses made of it by readers of novels in order to explore the offer and choose their reading.

Despite the great role played by sociability in readers' choices, the article first shows that online recommendation is in the minority in the prescriptions mobilized by readers. It is then a question of highlighting, among those who mobilize the collaborative Web in their exploration of the offer, the logics specific to the consultation of amateur reviews online, whether they serve to reduce uncertainty or whether they are mobilized. for other purposes, such as seeking entertainment or comparing readings to those of others.