The next chapter: How 'BookTok' is shaping a new generation of readers, literature
Photo courtesy of Meghan Finnerty
Since its introduction in 2017, TikTok has taken the social media world by storm. Reviving short-form media in a post-Vine world, the app amassed a cult following that took interest in videos ranging from dance compilations to comedic skits. Now, one group known as BookTok is influencing a new generation of readers.
BookTok, a popular hashtag, is a host to book reviews for popular titles and upcoming releases and includes over 37.3 million videos. Bookstores have dedicated “As Seen on BookTok” sections, displaying books made popular by the platform. Additionally, science fiction and romance genres have seen a resurgence in popularity and readers are starting to see BookTok’s influence on recent publications.
Liz Grumbach, the director of digital humanities and research at Arizona State University’s Lincoln Center for Applied Ethics, researches TikTok and community-based knowledge. Specifically, she investigates how content creators navigate the constraints of TikTok’s algorithmic bias or machine learning to find and create community, solidarity and change.
Here, Grumbach shares insights on the BookTok phenomenon and how users are interacting with and impacting the literature industry through an online format.
Editor's note: The following interview has been edited for length and/or clarity.
Question: The Lincoln Center is involved with research into TikTok content creators. What are you currently working on?
Answer: I am the co-principal investigator with Sarah Florini on a project that was funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities that is called Understanding Algorithmic Folk Theories. We have been in conversation with TikTok content creators for a number of years, and now we are speaking to them about their experiences on the platform.
Q: How has a subgenre like BookTok influenced younger social media consumers and impacted the literature industry?
A: What is so powerful, and sometimes terrifying, about the TikTok algorithm is that the way it works is it's going to serve you content that fits your interests. If you're engaging with “Bridgerton” content, you might find yourself on the side of BookTok that has historical fiction or romance fiction recommendations.
I also see BookTok influencing publishing. Authors now almost have to be on TikTok or social media in general to promote their work. BookTok has also raised awareness of self-published work and authors that previously didn't have a following. Now they gain a following and can work with publishers. In doing so, the power has shifted a little.
There’s a recurrence of genres that are more geared towards younger readers or women. We're seeing a lot of genres like dystopian, young adult and romance fiction because that's what readers want.
Q: There seems to be a lot of criticism surrounding BookTok and the types of books being popularized. What do you know about that?
A: There are books being published that maybe wouldn't have been previously that are misogynistic. Some are based on toxic romantic relationships that we don't necessarily want to be popularized. I think that there's a response that we should take a look at those books and see if they're actually portraying those relationships in a good light or not.
Criticisms surrounding the romance genre that we're seeing popularized by BookTok now are an echo of what we've seen throughout literary history about how that genre has developed. Some of the criticism is villainizing genres like science fiction and romance, but I also think that that criticism is rooted in a distrust of younger readers and women to make a decision about what's worth reading.
Q: What is something positive about TikTok and subgenres like BookTok that you wish more people knew?
A: One of the things that TikTok does well is that there is the potential for people to find community because of the way the platform itself works. It sorts you into communities that it thinks you want to be in. Sometimes that means that you find something like a recommendation for a book that allows you to connect to a perspective, a community or a new insight into the world that you never would have encountered. I think that for every turn of the For You Page, there's the potential for harm, but there's also potential to connect. Stories always have the potential to help us create and find community.
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