BookTok: From turning pages to turning tides: Examining the promotion of bibliodiversity on BookTok

In contemporary society, social media platforms have become influential spaces for promoting cultural diversity. An example is TikTok, where book lovers come together on BookTok to discuss and recommend books. Reading literature positively impacts cultural and civic engagement, as well as broadening perspectives on gender equality, ethnicity, and stereotypes. However, the publishing industry and classic literary canons lack such diverse literature and often focus on books written by white men. BookTok, a relative newcomer in the digital reading sphere, has the potential to highlight more multicultural literature from culturally diverse authors. The study aimed to examine the role of BookTok and its community in addressing the lack of diverse voices and stories in the publishing industry. Specifically, the research questioned how the BookTok community contributes to bibliodiversity by promoting diverse voices and literary themes in a diversified literary canon. The research employed a mixed-method approach, consisting of a quantitative content analysis of 164 BookTok videos examining patterns of gender, ethnic representation, and genre preference, and semi-structured interviews with five BookTok content creators, providing insight into user engagement and the dynamics of book promotion. The study revealed several interesting findings. First, while BookTok is able to democratize the literary landscape by providing a platform for culturally diverse content creators to share literature from marginalized communities, they get less exposure than white, straight BookTokkers. This is due to stereotypes tied to readers leading to algorithmic biases promoting mostly videos created by white women. This can be countered with algorithmic auditing by seeking out diverse BookTokkers in sub-communities, who are considered most knowledgeable on the topic. Second, BookTok is constrained by the algorithm that promotes the most engaged with videos including already popular books, leading to a never-ending loop. The same kinds of books keep getting featured because publishers look on BookTok to see what genres are popular to recreate and because only the most popular books get translated from and into English, it limits the amount of world literature widely available. Third, not every user on BookTok is willing to read more diverse literature. With a preference for female authors, trope-based romance is the most popular genre on BookTok but it is also the most disputed genre as it is frequently perceived as uncritical, leading to less intellectual engagement with literature and a more homogenized and monocultural experience. BookTok therefore could have the power to diversify the literary landscape, thereby promoting bibliodiversity and aiming for a diversified canon, when the publishing industry, the TikTok algorithm, and certain readers become more aware of injustice and inequality in the literary world.