By Bella Lopez | Contributing Writer
May 1, 2025
The feeling of buying a new book is magical. The smell of the fresh-unread pages fill the air with excitement as you prepare to read. In more recent years, there has been a gradual decline in people reading due to the rise of social media platforms. People’s attention has been sucked into mindless scrolling on platforms like Instagram.The magic of holding a tangible book had begun to wither, until the rise of a positive influence on the reading community took charge.
Tik Tok is a giant social media platform where people can upload videos of themselves to share with the world. One useful aspect that has come out of this media platform is the creation of #BookTok. #BookTok is a community within the sea of users where people share their thoughts and feelings about books that they have read. All users have to do is search up the hashtag, or click on it, and they have an entire gallery of videos about books. As people share their positive (or negative) reviews, it piques the interest of current or interested readers. Lots of libraries have even begun to incorporate #BookTok into their business strategies. You can walk into a library and find a special section with viral books that are buzzing on social media.
The impact of this online community has been substantial on the sales of books in recent years. According to the Berkley Economic Review, “users are using TikTok to promote older books that have now resurfaced in popularity.” From January 10-17, 2025, there were 391,000 posts made to the BookTok hashtag alone, contributing to the overall 44 million posts on Tik Tok. #BookTok is more than just a simple hashtag - it is a community where people can express their love for books, no matter what genre or style.