Social Reading
SOCIAL READING
Reading has always been 'social' according to Stein in 2008, ('Stein taxonomy'), but the paper medium covered it up - however, with social
networks becoming an easy way to communicate, social reading has launched in
new directions, such as digital reviews, fan pages and group discussions - allowing for reading to become a group task.
Whilst group reading can be done in person, people have taken to the internet
to share their favourite picks globally, but
also take recommendations from the others.
Websites such as 'Goodreads' recommend books reviewed by readers globally with ratings, likes and comments. When looking at reviews, stance is promoted through use of lexis and ratings and may encourage/deter a user from reading it. Users use emotive verbs and stance adverbs are used when writing reviews to announce thoughts about the book; this could be regarding the plot/storyline, character, context or an opinion about the inclusion of something related to the reader’s identity – such as religion. A review may be very positive and the score might be high, simply because the reader identifies with the character and liked the plot. Whereas, a book may be less well received, such as Narnia, due to the inclusion of ‘Christian preaching’ but still have a good rating for the characters and general plot. Others who wish to agree with this view point can 'upvote' this comment.
From this stance taking, people can easily find people with similar views and wants in reading, making it easier for the user to find books they’ll enjoy.
Platforms such as Facebook have groups where people can
share thoughts about books they have enjoyed with similar-minded people. This
means posts and discussions are started where the sharing of opinions is
encouraged and books are dissected for enjoyment with similar people. This can
also be posted anonymously, so people can share true opinions without it being
linked directly to them, especially in large forums such as ‘gals that read’
which is more general and is a group designed to link women together in
reading, rather than reading something specific.
Source: facebook
However, smaller groups exist which are more finite in their
requirements. Therefore members will already have similar interests/views and discuss using similar jargon, perhaps less emotively since they group is already in agreement, an idea suggested by Keisling.
These groups could be made to gratify a need for wanting certain content, social interaction/entertainment and performance activity (such as Katz expresses in the 'gratification theory') and the only achievable way for this to happen for the people involved was through media. Facebook replaces in person community, in this case a book club, whilst still providing the same outcomes. Therefore, this allows users to form relationships with like-minded people through a shared interest in content, whilst also getting gratification from media entertainment. This could be GIFs or memes relating to a book or simply just messaging one another through the platform.
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Instagram also harbours social reading, with influencers and celebrities promoting books they have enjoyed or think are good in some way. This encourages their followers to read the book and share their thoughts in the comment section, using the ability to like comments (or reply to them) to show whether they agree or disagree with a thought about the text. However, some may argue that this can be biased, as followers may only read a book because an influencer suggested it and thus ‘like’ it because they like the person showing it, a politeness strategy, or because they think they’ll fit in better with the group and actually have no regard for the book. Similarly, it can be argued that celebrities only post a book for financial benefit or following benefit and it is actually a hidden deal or promotion, rather than genuine interest.
This may lead to books getting ‘false hype’. Arguments can start too with disagreements and hate comments leading to 'participatory cultures' becoming 'tempered' and toxic, according to Jenkins, as media gives people anonymity to say distasteful things an in-person club wouldn't allow.
The media has allowed connections between people globally,
meaning book-sharing is accessible and available to the masses at any time of
day. It’s also a great way for people to express their opinions about books
they liked or didn’t, with reasons why. However, this also means people can
easily slate books with little repercussions (if done anonymously) and give
biased thoughts, or false opinions – sometimes simply on the grounds of
disliking an author for whatever reason (political/social/minority).
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REFERENCES:
Birke, D. (2021). Social Reading? On the Rise of a ‘Bookish’ Reading Culture Online. Poetics Today, [online] 42(2), pp.149–172. doi:https://doi.org/10.1215/03335372-8883178.
Esposito, J. (2010). The Stein Taxonomy: An Analytic Model for Social Reading. [online] The Scholarly Kitchen. Available at: https://scholarlykitchen.sspnet.org/2010/10/28/the-stein-taxonomy-an-analytic-model-for-social-reading/ [Accessed 1 May 2024].
Jenkins, H. (2006). Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide. [online] JSTOR. NYU Press. Available at: https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt9qffwr [Accessed 2 May 2024].
Kiesling, S.F. (2021). Stance and Stancetaking. Annual Review of Linguistics, 8(1). doi:https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-linguistics-031120-121256.
Lewis, C.S. and Baynes, P. (2015). The chronicles of Narnia. London: Harpercollins Children’s Books.
Ruggiero, T. (2000). (PDF) Uses and Gratifications Theory in the 21st Century. [online] ResearchGate. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/233138016_Uses_and_Gratifications_Theory_in_the_21st_Century [Accessed 2 May 2024].
Theory, M. (2023). Uses & Gratifications Theory | Understanding Media Consumption. [online] Media Theory. Available at: https://mediatheory.net/uses-and-gratifications-theory/ [Accessed 2 May 2024].
Universal Class (2019). The Politeness Theory: A Guide for Everyone. [online] UniversalClass.com. Available at: https://www.universalclass.com/articles/business/communication-studies/politeness-theory.htm [Accessed 5 May 2024].
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