Things we’d like to see from our local booktok

The book side of TikTok – "booktok" – is the side of the social media app where people share their love for books. People make videos to share book recommendations, post their favourite excerpts, or make funny content about reading in general.

However, when compared to other countries, our local booktok is just not up to the mark. Here are some ways to improve that.

More content creators

The biggest thing that our local booktok lacks is the amount of people actually making book-related content. Other than a handful of accounts, there are very few people who post about books or any kind of reading-related content.

A lack of content creators means there is less content in general. Different people have different tastes, and a limited number of people will not be able to cover everyone's needs. There is myriad content that can be made about books, starting from funny skits about reader's struggles, to in-depth analysis on various stories.

Variety of content

Of the current content that does exist, a lot can become repetitive. Most booktok posts discuss the same few authors of one genre and it is mostly just their books only. It is completely normal for people to make more content on popular, well-loved authors as more people read their writing, so videos about them are more popular, and get more likes and views.

However, it's gotten to the point where these people are the only ones who are discussed, and underrated writers from less popular genres are not given the same love. While getting good engagement is important for content creators to thrive, the main focus of booktok should be for book enthusiasts to share their love of reading. Adhering to what only the majority prefers alienates people who are not into mainstream content. This is something that does not only affect our local side, but is an issue on an international level as well.

Content on local books

Booktok in Bangladesh has the opportunity to become something big. The amount of literature available is immense, and there is much to discuss and dissect on the contemporary and classic scale. There are certain Instagram accounts that share lines from local books, but the amount of content that can fit into a 3-minute video is very different from a post.

Besides, most of these posts tend to be about the aesthetic rather than the content in them. The number of videos that could be made about Bangladeshi novels is untapped and unexplored material. At the same time, it can introduce local stories to the world. Most of booktok is very Euro-centric, and introducing our country's books will help diversify it on a global scale. As previously discussed, booktok is in desperate need of some variation, and this might be able to spread some of that.

Namreen has been stuck in the void for too long. Send help at namreen.shaiyaz@gmail.com