Abstract

This qualitative study is the first to explore bookstagram, a relatively new social media phenomenon whereby Instagram users dedicate their feed to showcasing books and reading-related activities. Specifically, this study explored adolescents' experiences of bookstagram to gain a better understanding of what motivates them towards voluntary literacy engagement. The bookstagram and reading experiences of 10 adolescent bookstagrammers were explored through semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire. The interviews were coded according to types of pleasure experienced in adolescents' free-choice reading (Wilhelm, 2016), related themes derived from the data, and themes informed by the literature on social media. The findings reinforced Wilhelm's finding that pleasure is at the heart of adolescents' free-choice reading, and further showed that bookstagram enriched adolescents' experiences of social pleasure connected to reading. The findings also revealed that bookstagram enhanced participants' literacy practices, leading them to read more, branch out into different genres, read more attentively, and embrace their enjoyment of reading. Self-presentation on bookstagram was found in participants' references to identity and self-expression on social media, and was considered in terms of its influence on participants' experiences of and motivations to bookstagram. The topics of followerships and sponsorships also emerged, although neither acted as motivations to bookstagram. Overall, this study illustrated that bookstagram gave adolescent readers an opportunity to enhance their pleasure in free-choice reading by exposing them to a community of book lovers who are as excited about reading as they are. Implications include integrating bookstagram in literacy curricula to appeal to adolescents' reading interests.