In episode 3 of Lit’EDTech Fiesta, three bookstagrammers; Rida Ashraf, Tahreem Amanullah and Hina Farhaj joined us. In this episode, you will see them talk about the evolving role of bookstagrammers with team Daastan.
Bookstagrammers – A Positive Side of Social Media
According to Hina, internet is littered with controversial and sensational content. Such kind of content attracts the attention of masses. It feeds gossips and trends. However, in the past few years, a reading community is emerging on this platform. Hina attributes this change in the world of social media to bookstagrammers.
“Bookstagrammers are inspiring people to read. They are bringing back the golden habit of reading through interacting with audience and finding them books that cater to their specific taste.”
Hina also brings in the discourse of the decline of reading among the youth. She is of the opinion that the education system and the environment provided to children at home are major factors contributing to this decline.
The importance of aesthetics
In today’s world aesthetics are of great importance says Rida. She shares how people tend to ignore long narrative reviews and opt for eye-catching visuals and condensed reviews. Therefore, in order to engage the audience one must decide an aesthetically pleasing theme, colour palette and layout. For her own reviews, she doesn’t follow the conventional review writing formula. Instead, Rida highlights the key elements of a book without giving away the spoilers and leaves the rest for the readers to choose from. However, she believes aesthetics or appealing photography is not everything when it comes to bookstagramming.
“Audience must learn to differentiate between photographers and bookstagrammers. Just because a person takes good pictures of books, doesn’t mean that he/she knows much about books.” – Rida Ashraf
Bookstagrammers and Publishers Collaboration
All three of the speakers agree that in order to promote literature in Pakistan, bookstagrammers, publishing houses and writers need to work together. In the world of social media, followers are the currency. Publishers should send out PR Packages on the basis of quality of content rather than the number of followers. Moreover, while giving out books for review, make sure to also cover people who are avid readers but can not afford to buy every book release.
We hope enjoyed episode 3 of Lit’EDTech Fiesta. For upcoming episodes, stay tuned!
