Social Media, Communities, & Networks Conference 2026: Semester 1 & SP1

Comments

2 responses to “Romantasy, Algorithms and Fandom Publics on BookTok — Sienna Lynch”

1. 

   Monique Bobbermien

   01/05/2026

   Sienna,

   Thankyou for your post, though I haven’t actually heard of Book-Tok before you certainly had me looking it up on Tik-Tok to find out what type of content is out there. I have developed three questions for our upcoming conference.

   1. Beyond TikTok, how do BookTok fandom publics translate to other platforms, and in what ways do different platform affordances reshape the visibility, engagement, or structure of these communities?

   2. Using the viral  “A Court of Thorns” as a case study, to what extent does the meme-based nature of BookTok content influence readers’ emotional responses to the romantasy genre, and potentially reinforce or challenge broader social norms around gender and relationships?

   3. Based on your discussion of TikTok’s algorithmic affordances, how does the monetisation of influencers shape what is considered “authentic” within BookTok communities, and is it possible for these fandom publics to maintain authenticity within a social media platform that is commercially driven?

   Kind Regards,

   Monique

   Reply
2. 

   22519850

   03/05/2026

   Hi Sienna, I found your presentation to be of great interest regarding the way in which the users of this community interact with one another. Your presentation allowed me to consider some of the concepts from Module 1 and 2 regarding community interactions.

   First, I am interested in how you presented the way in which the users commented and shared the content from other users – does you think these affordances led to certain interactions between the users?

   In relation to your discussion of the number of ways in which the users interacted with the content that was published by other members of the community, I am interested in how this interactivity is an example of participatory culture. Does you think that this form of participation is beneficial for the community, or for the organization that manages the community all together?

   Finally, while you presented an example of a community that was of great interest to its members, are there any ways in which certain groups of individuals were not easily visible within the community?

   Reply