Mass Media

Through mass media, individuals create and watch content online (booktok) which attracts a culture of those with the same interests. Individuals who indulge in the same literature, create a series of mass media to bring their imagination to life. This occurs on online sites such as Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Tiktok, where fans will come together to publish their own passion from the impact. In mass media, booktok has grown in popularity that peaked during quarantine. This is a place on tiktok, where individuals will edit videos that bring a book to life. This can range from dressing up as characters, or creating scenarios that bring scenes to life. Creators on this platform often get followers and comments under their videos with people who have similar interests. This culture has an imagination that can influence a person’s identity, through fashion, humor, and confidence. The hashtag, ‘booktok’ has an estimated 83.9 billion views, in the month of October (Tiktok, 2022). Hashtags of book characters and books themselves, range through the millions. The spark of creativity in individuals may be from books, but it is with the influence of what an individual can do with this imaginative power. The concept of reading in itself is a tool to evaluate how readers think. Many people can read but yet every character and meaning will appear different. To explain literature in a deeper, emotional sense, “It is expected that fiction challenges the order of one’s reality… it is typically accompanied by comic relief or potentially destructive emotions,” (Mikkonen, 303). Fiction allows an individual to change their reality. The contents of books hold personal emotion that is impactful towards identity. Finding a book that speaks to an individual, allows them to feel understood. This can lead to an attachment of a character that helps a person express themselves. Literature provides pleasure on its own terms through the representation in mass media. This prevents people from concentrating in society for too long and brings a sense of comfort. This type of attention is easily accessible and causes a reaction that stimulates and distracts (Gauthier, 2022). An example of how literature can be used to understand behaviour can be expressed by Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid. In this book, readers were presented with a different style of fashion, rock and roll, a strong female lead, and a new genre of music that influenced women to find their voice and to not accept a life that is less than what is deserved (Hightower, 2021). By representing such culture with actions in the world, it becomes intriguing to others in society.

This mass media then has an impact on the publishing industry. Here are some statistics of the influence ‘booktok’ has on literature. It is stated that, “BookTok helps drive up sales of books” and that new “readers have bought over 825 million books in the US in 2021… helping to revive sales of older titles.” There are even hashtags being created containing, “BookTok Made Me Buy It,” in bookstore sections with popular titles from the app to attract readers attention, (Bateman, 2022). This is a societal push by young adults that is directly influencing the economy. Individuals who are active in culture are provided with raw materials and use them in personal ways are eligible to make an impact (Gauthier, 2022). Culture does not exist in the physicality of the book, but yet how a person uses these texts to make sense of culture, and expand themselves to reach their highest potential (Gauthier, 2022). The power young readers hold has infinite possibilities. These possibilities are created individually from the imagination that authors draw onto their audience.