TikTok at the Book Fair: the least expected crossing

TikTok and reading They seem, a priori, to be two parallel worlds. While the application offers us an infinite amount of content, tailored to our tastes, at an accelerated and ephemeral pace, the exercise of reading requires the opposite: time, patience, dedication and a lot of imagination.

However, the #BookTok community comes to try to demonstrate that the application can promote reading at unthinkable levels. Within the framework of the 48th Buenos Aires Book Fair, Both worlds will converge in the panel that will take place on Saturday April 27 starting at 8:30 p.m. in the classroom Rodolfo Walshunder the title “the reading phenomenon on TikTok“.

TikTok and literature: the community as a meeting point

To understand the reasons for the presence of the application in the 48th Buenos Aires Book Fairwe must first immerse ourselves in #BookTokone of the most massive communities in TikTok. Under this hashtag, hundreds of thousands of people share your videos in the app where they talk about their favorite authorstheir book recommendations and they even perform imitations or humorous “sketches” referring to a particular literary story.

To trace the beginnings of #BookTok we must go back to 2020, the year in which the Covid19 pandemic. Confinement, anguish and a greater availability of time led hundreds of people to turn to the Internet to interact with other individuals who have the same interests. This way the literary community was born.

Four years later, the results they break records. Currently, #Booktok has more than 32 million publications and its views amount to almost 200 billion, turning it a viral phenomenon.

“We believe that in the #BookTok community people can find a door to literature“he described Judith Gomez Machadoleader of Content Creators TikTok Latamin dialogue in Scope. In this sense, it is worth noting that for Gómez Machado “TikTok is not a social network. We do not connect people with people. We connect people with content“And, for each person, tastes may vary: there are those who use the application solely for entertainment but there are also those who immerse themselves in the different communities to learn and challenge themselves.

But, there is something even more to the idea of ​​community that was forged on TikTok. Not only does it bring together “ordinary” people with content they might like, but the app also functions as a bond between authors, publishers, bookstores and the final public: “The authors also come close and it is very good, because they can connect with the public that consumes their works. There is a very valuable interaction because they can meet those people, see what they want, listen to them,” explained Gómez Machado.

Judith Gomez Machado.jpg

“The application is made up of very authentic communities and #BookTok is one of them,” said Judith Gomez Machado.

TikTok

In Argentina, this relationship can be an impetus for a industry that is in free fall: through the Argentine Book Chamber (CAL) bookstores reported a sales collapse of 30% in Januarywhich was accentuated during February and reached the figure of 40% in March. The lack of interest and the economic crisis are two of the main reasons to understand this freak.

Thus, the formation of a community as extensive as #BookTok – which mixes all the actors in the world of literature – generates expectations in the literary world. Bookstore shelves are beginning to have a “TikTok trend” section that seeks to capture the application’s audience.

Beyond that, the publishers and bookstores themselves are beginning to be content creators in the application. For example, the Ocean Publishing you already have your account in Mexico – with almost 10,000 followers – where where where you publish recommendations, releases and more. At this point, the TikTok representative assured that “They themselves (bookstores and publishers) see changes and thank us for working together.”

What activity does TikTok offer at the Buenos Aires Book Fair?

TikTok is known for its ephemeral, fast and tailor-made content thanks to the precision of its algorithm. Also, this and other applications – such as Instagram – are believed to be one of the reasons why hundreds of children and adolescents develop pathologies related to the anxietythe depression and the difficulty in maintaining attention for a long time, due to the addiction that can develop after long days connected to the cell phone.

However, #BookTok seeks to break with this idea of ​​ephemeral consumption and the activity that TikTok will offer in the Buenos Aires Book Fair proposes, in addition to an approach to the literary world, a novel approach: helping content creators to boost content longer than one minute.

The panel will be composed of the aforementioned Judith Gomez Machado; Erika Muñoz, from TikTok Latam Strategic Alliances; and content creators Victoria Resco and Alejandra Solares. Those who are interested can visit it on Saturday April 27 starting at 8:30 p.m. in it Rodolfo Walsh Hall.

TikTok guadalajra.jpg

The TikTok stand at the Guadalajara Book Fair, a stage where authors came to talk with their audience.

TikTok

TikTok already has past experiences at Book Fairs in other cities such as Guadalajara, Bogota and Monterrey. Gomez Machado was confident and eager to start the activities now: “what we offer in the talks are Workshops and activities more than anything. For example, presenting the app feed from scratch, chatting about good content practices and, above all, we will be telling the experience of two content creators who are doing incredible. Let’s even talk about content longer than one minute which is working very well.”

For those who want to participate, Gomez Machado recommends “arrive early“since, during the days of Professional Conferences – carried out between the April 23 and 25 – TikTok was “full room“and they expect the same for their panel on Saturday. The activity then aims to continue connecting people with new content and helping to forge in youth a habit that is often accused of being abandoned.