About teacup.ro
Teacup.ro was the first Romanian website of its kind. Back in 2010, Romanians were still getting used to doing stuff online. Teacup.ro was some kind of online book club. It was a place where literature enthusiasts could come together and talk about their favorite books and authors.
The idea of having an online book club was new at that time, which is why it did not get so much traction. The whole purpose was to make you feel like you were sitting down and talking to a friend about the last book you read, all while enjoying a cup of tea. Hence the name.
If you wanted to be a member of the Teacup Club, all you had to do was to create an account. Once you did that, you had access to all the discussions. Of course, as a non-member, you could still read what was going on, but you could not participate.
For people who enjoyed reading, Teacup.ro was a lovely setting. You could meet people who loved the same genre and have in-depth discussions about the most recently read books. You could engage in debates and make recommendations. And all that without having to meet up in person. It has an -at-home book club, but everyone was at their own homes.
At the same time, if you fancied yourself a writer, you could send in articles, poems, and all kinds of pieces you wrote. Lots of people took advantage of that, which is why the website had an entire section of articles and poems. As an amateur writer, that thing was amazing. You could have people criticize your work, and you could find out if your pieces were any good or not. Plus, you would get recommendations on how to better yourself.
Teacup.ro also had a section that covered reviews. As a member, if you read a book, you could leave a detailed report about it so that others know what to expect. Plus, it was a very useful way of knowing if you’re going to like the book before actually buying it.
At the same time, if you didn’t know what to read next, you would access the website and browse through other people’s latest readings. That way, you would find an interesting recommendation from people who have similar tastes in books.
But the best thing about Teacup.ro remains the discussions. The fact that you could go online and debate a certain idea from a book was something entirely new in Romania 2010. Imagine that at that time, the only way people could do that was if they actually joined groups and meet up at a café or library. But as you can imagine, the chance of meeting someone with similar tastes was lower in the real world than online.
Unfortunately, Teacup.ro slipped through the cracks in 2013. The idea of the website was impressive, but somehow, it died out. People stopped having discussions about books, and the site was losing members. Eventually, nobody was around, and the domain was bought out.
