Reading in Public No. 91: How is literary social media affecting what we read?
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Filter bubble
14 min read
The article discusses how social media algorithms may push readers into 'tighter reading niches' and affect book discovery - this is the filter bubble phenomenon in action, and understanding its mechanics would deepen comprehension of the forces shaping reading choices
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Fear of missing out
13 min read
FOMO is mentioned multiple times as a key driver of reading behavior changes - the psychology behind this phenomenon, its social media amplification, and documented effects would provide valuable scientific context
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Parasocial interaction
11 min read
Readers describe following and trusting recommendations from online personalities they've never met - understanding parasocial relationships explains why BookTok and Bookstagram influencers have such power over reading choices
In October, I wrote about the potential pitfalls of comprehensive reading tracking in a Reading in Public essay. That comments on that post fascinated me because many of them leap-frogged over the idea of tracking to land on a different woe in the modern reader’s life: bookish social media. Many readers chimed in to suggest that it was all of the literary content they were consuming that was impacting their reading lives, and I was interested to learn more. I opened up a social media survey and almost 300 people participated. Consisting primarily of open ended questions, I’m still making my way through everything you all shared and will gradually be posting more about my findings in the coming weeks and months.
Today, I’m sharing some of the most interesting patterns I noticed in your responses to the question: How has social media impacted WHAT you read?1 The end of the year is personally a time when I think a lot about what I read—how I choose my books, what I did and did not get to this year, if my reading year felt satisfying, and how I want to make these decisions differently in the new year. I know I’m not alone in this so I thought this would be a good moment to think about how we as a collective body of readers are letting the internet shape our reading choices.
Of course, there is a massive disclaimer here that people who responded to this survey are a) readers of this Substack and therefore involved and invested in some form of online literary discourse and b) readers who cared enough about it to fill out the survey. This is likely still a niche group within the world of readers at large. Nonetheless, social media is having a major impact on books at large. Here’s how one reader put it:
Even as a non-SM user, you see it everywhere, in online reviews, blurbs, bookstores, what friends are reading, and of course what gets published. I’m oddly missing some of the older gatekeepers and worry it’s making our reading less diverse, even if it comes with nice advantages for finding
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