Gleeph allows you to create virtual libraries and share favorites. – ALLILI MOURAD / SIPA
- Gleeph is a book recommendations app that was launched in 2015 in La Rochelle.
- Based on similarities of virtual libraries, it makes it possible to suggest book references with unparalleled finesse, according to its designers.
- It will start at the next literary re-entry in September, an international development.
THE book that your library lacks, the one that will surely please you, this is the one
Gleeph, a free application developed in La Rochelle, promises to recommend you. “Word of mouth is the main prescriber for books. We trust our friends and people who have tastes similar to ours, ”said Guillaume Debaig, president and co-founder of Gleeph. Based on this observation, his company, created in 2015 with the desire to “use the paper book to connect people,” he says, offers a system of recommendations based on library similarities. An operation which seems to seduce since since the beginning of the year, the number of users has jumped by 25%.
“A completely crazy result”
Gleeph users save the books they want to appear in their virtual library by scanning the barcode, two million references are now in its database, for 310,000 users. “The principle is simple, continues Guillaume Debaig. Let’s imagine that you have 40 books in common with 10,000 people, and that all these people except you have three books that are the same, a priori these three, we will recommend them to you. “He promises” a completely crazy result “.
Depending on the books we have saved (and some users display up to 8,000 references), reading suggestions are sent. “We can say without blushing that we have developed what is probably the best book recommendation algorithm in the world,” says Guillaume Debaig. And this, at the cost of large investments in R & D for five years and of work with research laboratories. “The big brands base their recommendations on what people buy gold, 40% are purchases for gifts and not directly for them. We have a better level of finesse, ”notes the co-founder of Gleeph.
Not an “elitist” application
And the application is intended for those who have five books in their library as well as several hundred, for those who read manga, thrillers or even philosophy essays. “We were especially careful not to offer a closed, elitist application, it is very easy to use,” comments Guillaume Debaig. The average age of users is 26 and 66% of them are female. It is possible to share favorites, or rants about the works that are displayed in your virtual library, if you wish.
If a book catches a user’s interest, they can find the address of an independent bookseller who sells it near their home, among a network of 1,000 online addresses. And some booksellers have observed that new customers, reluctant to frequent their stores, push their doors through this.
Gleeph is now entering a new stage of development with an international opening as of the literary re-entry in September. Gleeph users can browse inspiring libraries and subscribe to accounts they want to keep up with. They also have the opportunity to discover the references of certain authors such as Alfred de Montesquiou, who chose the application.