The Perks of BookTok

Emory May, Staff Writer

Since the invention of handheld cell phones back in 2007, companies have created apps that you can download onto your phone. One app that has risen in popularity, mainly with GenZ, is TikTok, which is a social media platform used for creating and watching short clips or videos. There are all types of things on TikTok,for example, you can watch clips of sports, movies/tv shows, etc. You can find TikToks on basically anything by looking it up. One of the more popular searches on TikTok is BookTok. With technology increasing in the ways we can use it, there are quite a few apps where you can read books. However, with BookTok becoming popular and all, people prefer actual books again rather than ebooks or audiobooks. Around four years ago when BookTok became popular, in that time it has seen over eighty-four billion views, which has influenced thousands of readers. 

One of the most popular ways of viewing BookTok if you are a creator is to share and make videos about book recommendations. Some of the most talked about books on BookTok are, It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover, A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas, and Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi. All three of these books are phenomenal, and hundreds of copies have been sold of each book globally. Popular bookstores like Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, or Books Inc., all carry books popular on BookTok. Here in Idaho Falls, Barnes and Noble has its own BookTok table with the most popular trending books on TikTok right now. There are thousands of book recommendations currently on TikTok just waiting for the right person to see and read them. There are even bestselling YA authors who post often on BookTok, leaving clues about their next novels. The readers of the world use BookTok daily to promote the books they absolutely loved reading and to try and inspire young readers of the next generation.