How to Talk About Books on Social Media: The German-Language Social Media Reviewer Sphere on Instagram

Abstract

This explorative study investigates how book readers engage on Instagram within the platform-based reviewer sphere as part of the Bookstagram community. The communicative patterns and practices of online book reviews align with the communicative infrastructure of social media. The aim is to define and describe the communicative patterns and practices of online book reviewing under the changing conditions in a social media environment. The article analyzes a sample of the German-language reviewer sphere on Instagram in order to investigate a local formation of a global community. Based on a content analysis of posts (N = 514) from three thematic hashtags—#rezension (“review”), #buch (“book”), and #bookstagramgermany—, I will discuss the types of reviewers and analyze their content by the categories of platform affordances, imagery, textual forms, and review approach. The article contributes to the research of online book reviewing within communication and media studies by providing insight into the communication and review approaches of a niche-structured Instagram community.