Since the rise of social media platforms and the creation of short viewed forms of media: TikTok, Instagram reels and Youtube shorts, reading has never been the same. I’m sure everyone with at least some interest in reading and book recommendations has heard the term BookTok. BookTok is a community on TikTok in which readers and writers discuss and review books. BookTok especially flourished during the beginning of the Quarantine due to Covid-19. On TikTok, creators can post videos from 15 seconds up to 10 minutes in length creating short and detailed reviews that circulate on the app. With the help of TikTok’s algorithm many creators rose to popularity and some argue that it even created more active readers. However, others argue that BookTok lessens the amount of books accessible to readers. Choosing what is likely to attract more views, Tik Tok’s specific pattern pushes books that would appeal to the “large public”, closing opportunities to make other- less homogenous books more popular. That raises the following questions: is BookTok more beneficial or harmful to the culture of reading and how does this affect publishers and authors?

The first of the benefits BookTok has created has been an increased number of young people reading. Mainly due to TikTok, Gen Alpha, a generation generally described as “iPad” and “sephora” kids are finally getting into reading. For many young people, being forced to spend their childhood and pre-teen years at home, doing school and forming friendships online, has actually greatly limited reading as a form of entertainment due to the reliance on screens for daily life. However, ironically, it is a screen that also brought back reading for many young people. BookTok has also helped me get back to reading, people giving me short summaries of books encouraged me to open up my Kindle and got me back into the world of storytelling. I distinctly remember being recommended “The Song of Achilles,” by Madeline Miller, a novel with a mix of Greek mythology and romance that once got me out of my reading slump.

However, BookTok has also created its own fair share of problems. First of which is generalization. TikTok’s algorithm is known to give more homogenous content, thus providing viewers with a lot of the same books and content. This is important, because it impacts not only the viewers or readers that read books, but also the content creators. Since some content gains more views than others, content creators that try to make a living off of BookTok are ultimately forced to review books that they don’t enjoy reading. This creates a less diverse book and commentary environment for many that seek to find something new to read or to get back to reading. It leads to people reading Colleen Hoover books like “It Starts with Us” and “Ugly Love,” (which are not intrinsically bad, but they’re not the most reputable books), discussing the same, identical material and gradually limiting divergency. Many Colleen Hoover books have been also been criticized for their lack of character development, unhealthy relationships and raunchy “pick me” humor (a notable example is Colleen Hoover’s book “Ugly Love.”)
Over time, this also influences new authors and publishers. Writers who seek to become notable in their field of writing often result in plot tropes like being in a love triangle, naive female lead or a bad boy type crush, that are pushed upon authors. Not following these standards in writing greatly hinders the chances of one’s book becoming an overnight sensation (an idea that TikTok seems to promote in its newly created celebrities.)

Furthermore, there is an underlying problem to everyone being an expert. Experts are experts for a reason, if people who are not educated in a specific field are pushing their opinions onto others, this can even lead to spread of misinformation. Although Belle Gibson (there’s a new Netflix mockumentary “Apple Cider Vinegar” telling her story) wasn’t on TikTok during her time of fame, her social media activities on Instagram, where she spread misinformation about pseudosciences having healing powers in healing her own brain cancer, are an extreme example of what misinformation can look like. Despite her claims and massive amount of followers, Belle Gibson never had cancer and she led thousands of her followers to believe otherwise. People who let others believe that they are experts can have a very negative influence on people’s lives, in the case of BookTok, can push other people to read books encouraging negativity or misinformation.

Overall, is the amount of books people are reading really more important than the content that they are reading? Is BookTok even worth it? In my opinion, the answer is no and maybe. Talking from personal experience, on average the books I’ve read from BookTok have been okay, but not life altering. They were all light reads (“The Song of Achilles” and “They Both Die at the End” in my personal experience) which helped me relax and feel entertained, but they weren’t a part of literature that made me question and open up to new concepts. Thus, if you want to find new, light books to read in your free time, BookTok is the place for you. However, if you’re looking for something more serious, life-altering and likely unbiased, I suggest looking into other sources.