Before anyone thinks this article is going to bash the idea of sharing book recommendations/reviews on social media, I assure you it isn’t. The fact that there are young people creating content sharing and discussing books is phenomenal and should not be belittled. Also, that’s the exact purpose of my blog so it would be quite hypocritical of me.
When I was growing up, the main platform for sharing creative indulgences and discussing movies or books was Tumblr. It was a place where people could create their own blogs that had curated aesthetics which likely spawned some of the aesthetics we refer to today like “dark academia”. People would often post about books, poetry, and sometimes their own original writing to share with other like-minded Tumblr-ites. These posts could be “liked” or “reblogged” in a similar manner to Twitter.
Tumblr is still around today, though it isn’t nearly as popular as the social media platforms of TikTok and YouTube. Tumblr has always been a place synonymous with anonymity; as well as eating disorders and porn. Lots of porn. TikTok and YouTube, while having some anonymous creators, is much more front-facing. Plus, people don’t have to read or skim through an entire blog to see recommendations, they see them appear on a screen. This is a particular advantage TikTok has over YouTube as well. It’s easier to grasp flashes of a few books than to sit through a 20+ minute video discussing the books themselves.
I haven’t really talked about Pinterest, but just know that it’s essentially a culmination of both Tumblr and TikTok. I find there’s not a lot of original content there, it’s usually all garnered from other sources. I probably use Pinterest the most for this reason. Also, because I’m old.
Currently, TikTok and YouTube are by far the most popular websites for sharing book recommendations or reviews amongst young people. TikTok in particular has a lot of book recommendation content, specifically dealing with certain tropes or characteristics of books. For example, one might see videos titled “Enemies to Lovers Book Recs” or “Books with ‘X’ aesthetic” or “Books to Read if You Liked ‘X Book’”. These types of videos are present on YouTube as well, but they’re longform and usually are less “catchy”. A lot of BookTubers use YouTube to create literary analysis content which is also more in-depth than your typical review or recommendation video.
With all these different sites for book content, the inevitable is created: an echo chamber. The same books are shared over and over, and often the praise or criticism is wildly compounded due to their visibility on these sites. A kind of issue occurs where it’s difficult to tell just how good or how bad a book actually is because whichever opinion people generally have of the book is magnified.
Similarly, both TikTok and YouTube are platforms that curate their content towards the viewer. If you watch a lot of book recommendation content, you will then be shown more of this content. It also strives to be like-minded, which is why you may see the same books recommended over and over. People are recommending them frequently, but the platform is also specifically choosing similar books for you to see.
While this is beneficial for finding books similar to your own taste, there is the “echo-chamber” effect where you may see the same books or opinions of those books repeatedly. This can lead us to believe that the books we’re seeing over and over are more popular than they are, or that people have stronger opinions of these books than the average reader really does.
This does tend to be more of an issue with BookTok than BookTube, I think. YouTube’s longer format allows for more specific dialogue to be presented around certain books. Though you might find some BookTubers parroting popular opinions, there is often more nuance to the explanation that makes their opinion feel valid and well thought-out.
It’s important to recognize these factors going into the BookTok or BookTube world because seeing these repetitive recommendations or opinions can really color our own opinions of books. There are books that I’ve been turned off reading just because of how many times I’ve seen them on TikTok due to the effect of over-saturation. There are books that I personally loved that I thought people really disliked because I kept seeing “edgy” reviews of them, only to find out when looking a bit deeper that the book is generally well-received. Those things were suggested to me because I’d clicked on a similar video; they’re not necessarily a good representation of the average user posting about books.
These websites can be so helpful for finding new books, but it’s important to remember two things: they quickly become an echo-chamber, and everyone there is often creating content with the goal of being different. We’ve gone over the first point already, and I think everyone is familiar with the second point by now. People need to make content others will be interested in. This can mean suggesting controversial books, having an “edgy” take on a popular book, or even saying something entirely incorrect about a book to get more engagement on their post.
By keeping these issues in mind, we can navigate TikTok or YouTube in a more helpful way. I use them as a first check-point for book recommendations to see what books I’m being recommended that are similar to other books I’ve read or fall into the genre I’m looking for. The second check-point is a review site like Goodreads. I know a lot of people don’t like to see reviews before reading a book, but a peek at the amount of stars often lets me know what kind of book I’m in for. Anything under 4 stars on Goodreads is either lacking or very controversial. Think They Both Die at the End for the former and Lolita for the latter.
These websites are a great way to expose yourself to new books, especially books outside your comfort genre, but I suggest researching a bit more before committing to one of their recommendations. I also suggest having a healthy skepticism about books that are highly praised or highly criticized on these websites because many of those books are undeserving of both that amount of praise and criticism.
People have a LOT of opinions about books, and just like anything else on social media, these opinions become oversaturated very quickly. For a comparison, think about how quickly the “That Girl” trend blew up on TikTok. Everyone was making a video of their “That Girl” routine, or a video poking holes in it. This happens with books as well. A few recommendation videos show a generally well-received novel, that novel blows up, and then there are a wave of videos about why that book isn’t actually that good.
We can use these websites to pad our TBR lists and find new books to read, but try not to let them influence your opinion too much. Overall, it’s more about what’s interesting to you and what you like, not what everyone else finds popular right now.
The Lit Wiz