When the pandemic stormed the world five years ago, several online communities were created in an attempt to help people cope with quarantine and the lack of socialization that came with it. Many of these communities started on TikTok and consisted of hundreds of users who all shared similar interests and hobbies. The one community that has undoubtedly surged in numbers since 2020 is BookTok.Â
I do have to admit, I was one of those avid, middle-school book lovers who would spend hours reading each day, and who sadly lost her love for reading as technology slowly began shoving its way through the doors. I went from reading a five-hundred page book in one day to scrolling through Instagram and X (or Twitter), then Facebook and Musical.ly (now TikTok), and everything in between for hours on end. If it was a new platform, I was on it, but new releases in a series I had once loved were as important to me as the t-shirt in the back of my closet. That is until I discovered BookTok.Â
When you’re scrolling through the BookTok hashtag, you’ll likely come across book reviews, monthly reading wrap-ups, member’s five-star reads, and book hauls. There are even creators who make merchandise specifically dedicated to books or reading in general. Personally, I’ve already bought a Bookish Calendar from Bull in a Bookshop and a reading log bookmark from Midnight Readers Shop.Â
With a newfound love for reading also came the strong urge to buy all the books I now wanted to read, and as I scrolled through BookTok for hours, that list became pretty long! So, of course, with a mile-long TBR list (to-be-read), I naturally wanted to go to Barnes and Noble, bookstores, and thrift shops to scratch that itch. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one to do so, because as of February 3rd, Barnes and Noble has plans to open sixty new stores in 2025! With the rise of technology and the crash of people’s attention spans, I would’ve guessed that Barnes and Noble would sooner go bankrupt, like our old friend Blockbuster, than thrive again. Sure, I’ve started reading again, and I know many others who have as well, but I didn’t expect the numbers to cause that great of an impact. In Jennifer Mattson’s article about the store openings, Barnes and Noble reported opening more bookstores in 2024 than they ever did from 2009 to 2019. They previously had over fifteen years of declining store numbers!Â
When the rumors began spreading that TikTok would soon be banned, I was a little sad to see the community go. Creators were posting their final, all-time book recommendations; giving us one last review for the road. Part of me suspected that the ban wouldn’t last and that we were all saying goodbye for nothing, but another part of me was preparing for the latter. It’s definitely just an app, and I know I could live without it if the time comes, but there’s no denying that TikTok is also the app that has opened my eyes to so many hobbies that have truthfully enriched my life. It slowly allowed me to figure out what makes me, me.
Regardless of whether you believe that TikTok should be banned or is bad for the youth, you can’t deny that it has its good aspects. Barnes and Noble credits BookTok for its rise in store numbers, and with higher numbers, comes more new and returning readers! Thanks to this app, many of us have found a hobby that isn’t just scrolling online all day; it’s a hobby that nourishes us, makes us slow down, pulls us into a different world, and then changes us after we’ve finished. Thanks to BookTok, we are able to put our phones down, pick our books up, and carry on like we never even stopped reading in middle school.Â