What is BookTok, and how is it influencing what Australian teenagers read?

By Katya Johanson, Professor of Audience Research, Deakin University
Amy Schoonens, Phd Candidate, Research Assistant, Queensland University of Technology
Bronwyn Reddan, Research Fellow, Deakin University
Leonie Rutherford, Associate professor, Deakin University
Michael Dezuanni, Professor, Queensland University of Technology

Pre-pandemic, reading rates among teenagers were falling. But BookTok, a subculture of social media platform TikTok, has made teens read more often – and influences what they read. Here’s how it works.

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