For millions of users, TikTok isn’t just entertaining videos—it’s where they find their next read.
Social media is becoming ever present in our daily lives. While it may distract some people from the joys of reading, many find it can provide them with a community—just like a book club does—to discuss books, tropes, authors, and everything in between. The social media platform TikTok has become increasingly popular in recent years, and its “Booktok” community has provided an outlet for readers, authors, and publishers alike.
THE RESEARCH
In her article “How can Booktok on TikTok inform readers’ advisory service for young people?” Margaret K. Merga (2021) from Edith Cowan University dives into the world of Booktok to discern what we can learn about the videos that are influencing so many readers. To collect data, Merga created a brand new TikTok account to interact with Booktok videos featuring hashtags such as #booktok (included in 99.1% of videos), #books (55.2%), and #bookclub (28.4%).
From her collection and analysis of 116 TikTok videos, Merga found eight popular themes in what the Booktok videos do, presented here from highest to lowest frequency:
- Recommend books
- Share the reader’s experience
- Focus on the emotional impact of the book on the reader
- Build community and identity through common reading experiences
- Compare the characters and places in different books
- Highlight the writing of the individual who created the video.
- Discuss how to manage a personal library of books
- Relate to those whose families don’t support reading
The most common, Recommend books, was included in 40.5% of the sample videos. Looking at this theme, Merga found recommendations for books that the content creator wished they could read again for the first time, books within genres (dystopian, romantasy, etc.), books to read if you enjoyed a certain book or series, and more. Such content could include an entire video devoted to an author talking about their book, a video with multiple recommendations from a content creator on picture slides, or stand-out quotes from the book itself. This versatility in what recommendations were offered and the format in which they were seen gives a whole new meaning to the ideas of book club and a bookish community.
THE IMPLICATIONS
Merga concludes by suggesting that libraries and other services that encourage reading should “build young reader friendly spaces and give greater primacy to current popular commonalities informing recommendations.” When it comes to libraries, this could be manifested in themed book displays (think “Booktok made me read it” or “as seen on Booktok”) or library-driven book clubs based on books made popular by social media. Because Booktok is so reader driven, old and new books might be recommended based on genre appeal or personal connection rather than a catchy title or popular author.
“Reader advisory services [should] build young reader friendly spaces and give greater primacy to current popular commonalities informing recommendations.”
Merga (2021)
Reader-driven means that instead of relying solely on bestseller lists or well-known authors or series, books can be displayed or recommended by libraries based on what readers are expressing interest in. Approaching the summer season as we are now, Booktok is likely to be flooded with the trope of summer flings or quick “beach read” type books. With Booktok as a guide, libraries can find books that are currently resonating with audiences, even if they are not recent publications.
Factoring in the 8 themes from Merga’s research, librarians and reader advisory services can conclude that social media, and especially Booktok, is a source for all kinds of reading connections and purposes. Getting more in tune with what Booktok has to offer can influence the popularity of libraries and further encourage readers to seek out solid reading communities. Whether it be a book club focusing on the latest “romantasy” novel (emphasizing the readers’ emotional response), a workshop on how to track your reads using an app (helping readers create a sense of community and identity), or creating stylish and comfortable book nooks for readers to escape to (providing a location where readers with less support at home can read), there is a lot libraries can learn from readers’ social media presence on Booktok.
To learn more about how Booktok influences readers and book trends, read the full article: Merga, Margaret K. 2021. “How can Booktok on TikTok Inform Readers’ Advisory Services for Young People?” Library & Information Science Research 43 (2): 101091. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lisr.2021.101091.
—Maya Burnett, Editing Research
FEATURE IMAGE BY COTTONBRO STUDIO
Find more research
Check out Kenedie Stewart’s Editing Research article for a research-based overview of using social media to promote a book: “How to Effectively Use Social Media When Promoting a Book.”
Take a look at “The Power of BookTok: Why TikTok’s Book Community Is Driving A New Era In Publishing” from TikTok on Forbes.com, discussing the relationship between TikTok and publishing.
Read the book by Reddan et al.’s (2024) to learn more about reading culture on social media: Social Reading Cultures on BookTube, Bookstagram, and BookTok. New York: Routledge.
