Digitization of Literature on Social Media

Anupreeta Chatterjee

India

*Corresponding Author E-mail: chatterjee.anupreeta@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

Popularity of e-readers like Kindle is increasing day by day. Thus, literature is getting digitized. There are various pros and cons of amalgamating social media with literature. Recent experiment suggests that digital literary reading affects emotional aspects of reading adversely. But social media has helped emerging poets to grow their network and connect with other poets. Social media has helped emerging and established writers to form various groups which can help them to contribute their ideas and receive appreciation, recognition, and valuable feedbacks from other writers. Thus, social media can help them to polish their skills. Therefore, this article will focus on discussing both positive and negative effects of digitization of literature via using social media.

KEYWORDS: Digitization, Literature, Digitization of literary works, Social Media, e-readers, Kindle.

Introduction:

According to Baker (2014), people are turning away from reading and they feel more comfortable to see an image or play within it, rather than creating an image via using well-crafted words. Abbreviated sentences and words have led to declination in quality of reading and writing. Thus, people are unable to use grammar and vocabulary correctly. Casy Brienza stated that all media platforms are channels of communication and expression. Thus, all media, including literature, is social. Literature is a social communication as stories simply do not emerge from imagination. These stories have emerged from realistic experiences of authors or poets. According to novelist Goldstein Love, social media sites like twitter can help in reviving literature and can help in facilitating communication between writers and audience. Thus, social media can lead to reformation in literature as writers can get instant feedbacks from their readers. Social media can also help a writer to promote his/her works which could lead to enhancement in readership.

According to Baker (2014), social media reduces the value of literary works but, due to reduction in art budgets and decreasing number of libraries, social media is one of the best ways to engage people for reading literature. Also, use of social media has opened options like self-publishing wherein authors can write, edit, and publish their own works on various sites. According to Baker, social media is not a platform to showcase proper literary works but it offers innovative and attractive possibilities for people in terms of expression, creativity, collaboration, and participation.

Social media is an open source where people can freely share their ideas but interact with each other. There are various groups which publicly notify all authors and poets to contribute their works in Anthologies. Thus, social media gives people a chance to get their works published. Also, publishers and editors can contact amateur authors and publish their works. There is a need to develop literature which is not just fresh but is also unique. Thus, amateur young writers could indulge with writing works which will not just attract readership but these works will also address various issues of youth and society. So, Social media can be the best way to engage youth readers and writers.

This article will emphasize on various pros and cons of using social media to promote literature.  Social media is extensively used by people to share their ideas. So, it can be used for sharing our creativity with emphasis on proper usage of grammar, vocabulary, syntax, and language. Often, it has been observed that people enjoy reading books on e-readers rather than purchasing books from book stores or going to libraries. Thus, social media acts as a tool to engage readers with writers so that readers are able to know about writer’s upcoming works.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE:

According to Parry (2010), Social media has become a way to commercialize literature as millions of books are becoming e-books through new tools like Google’s digital library. Parry (2010) questioned that due to digitization of literature and other subjects of humanities, these new tools are ‘taking humans out of humanities.’ Also, he suggests that novels are not commodities and culling out words from specific texts leads to depletion in quality of research. Parry (2010) has also observed that authors and publishers have besieged Google’s plan to digitize books due to copyright infringements.

Some scholars like, Moretti and Jockers stated that scholars should step back from scrutinizing individual texts to probe systems by counting, mapping and, graphing novels as there are 20000 to 30000 novels written by 19^th century writers like, Dickens and Austen and majority of these works have never been studied. Google books have been built to create more content to sell ads against. It was built with a perception that people would read one book at a time. These online libraries have gained immense popularity and have led to decrease in number of libraries. Thus, we can notice that social media and internet has affected learning and reading habits of individuals and have deeply impacted methodologies of research pertaining to linguistics and Humanities.

According to Erin (2014), Social media has given us opportunity to achieve recognition and stand out from the crowd. For instance, Nicholas Belardes wrote an imaginary love story titled “Small Places” by writing over 900 tweets which was covered by some of the top blogs and media sites including, Mashable, Reuters, and the UK Guardian. Erin (2014) has also mentioned negative impacts of this collaboration between social media and literature. For instance, she mentioned that love for books and libraries will die.  Erin (2014) stated about popularity of crowd sourced novels. Often, people are seen collaborating to write books but a novel written by hundreds of people could either be a blessing for forming a new cult in literature or become a disaster. Thus, it is evident that social media is used as a tool for creative expression.

Negative Effects of Social Media on Literature:

According to James (2014), social media is forcing us to judge based on our powers of judgement. Thus, clever comments and superficial likes are degrading the value of literary works. James stated that social platforms are based on consumerism. Thus, social media is unsafe for showcasing works that are supposed to inspire critical thinking and deep contemplation. According to James (2014), it is difficult to spread a meaningful message across people when the amount of likes and reactions are the only measure to value literary works and social media does not leave any space for deep contemplation. Art and literature have always used pathos, which acts as a rhetorical tool to help audiences retain message delivered via literary works. Social media is about craving for likes and retweets; complex analysis and readings do not receive enough appreciation and validation. Instead, memes and witty responses become a popular method of dialogue. Social media is not about meditative reflection and contemplative relaxation. Poetry in social media is not poetry of solitude and ennui. For instance, Slam poetry is one of the popular modes for generating views and appropriates a form of poetry which dispenses unambiguous rhetoric.  Another problem is that many websites and applications use search bubbles and algorithms to keep certain people close and others away. These are the major negative effects of amalgamating social media with literature.

Positive Effects of Social Media on Literature:

According to Egginton and Wegenstein, New media theorists associated with literature argued that this fundamental change has been registered in how literature is being written or read. Although, digitization of literature has various negative affects but it also has a positive side as mentioned by several eminent novelists like, Goldstein Love.

Social media has helped writers and poets to connect with their readers and promote their works via sharing links. Often, readers send their reviews by messaging authors using apps like, messenger, Amazon, etc.

Every coin has two sides. Thus, social media has both pros and cons which influences literature. This study will emphasize on both sides of Social media and discuss about consequences which can lead to changes in contemporary literature. Also, this article will highlight on various issues posited by Social media in reviving literature.

METHOD:

This study has two major objectives including, to discover positive impacts of social media on literature and to explore negative effects of social media on literature.

Operationally, Social media can be defined as a part of new media which is based on electronic communication through which users create online communities to share information, ideas, messages, etc.

Operationally, literature can be defined as an amalgamation of literary theories and literary works which grabs reader’s attention and has a deeper meaning and its analyses can lead to development of new literary theories and interpretations.

For conducting this research, researcher has used observation as a primary tool for collecting data. Researcher will be a participant observer of poetic communities on various social media sites, including, Facebook and Google+.  Researcher will use thematic analysis as a tool to analyze data.

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS:

Analysis will focus on addressing two important questions. These results have been culled out from qualitative analysis and interpretations are drawn from thematic analysis.  Thus, analysis has two parts: negative effects of social media on literature and positive effects of social media on Literature.

Negative Impacts of Social Media on Literature:

As mentioned by Jacobs (2014), social media has led to minimalizing narratives of literature. A lot of people use abbreviations and incorrect language to creatively express themselves. Also, people have tendency to not read a poet’s text or composition in depth and still hit the like button. Even literature suggests that people crave for likes and comments as mentioned by numerous scholars like, Egginton and Wegenstein who have stated that literature cannot be properly studied or understood outside of the specific medium of its transmission and archival. The media, through which literature is communicated is no longer considered secondary to literary content but is trying to grab attention in its own right. Literary content is often deeply influenced by media of transmission as well as forms of media present at time and place of production. Thus, both established and amateur writers use social media for gaining fame and recognition.

Social media is illusional in various ways as like decide the quality of work and often, people do not encourage budding writers by reading their compositions as James (2014) has mentioned that social media is forcing us to judge based on our judgmental powers wherein superficial likes and clever comments degrade the value of literary works.

As James (2014) has rightly mentioned that social media leaves no space for deep analysis or understanding of literature because people are too busy in checking out pictures, GIFs, and messaging each other. Thus, social media seems to be a blasphemy on grounds of producing new literature because literature needs deeper understanding. For understanding literature, there is a need to pay attention to one’s own feelings but social media deforms meaning of ‘self’ as world of social media revolves around likes and reactions. Social media hampers an individual’s choice to write on certain issues or topics because it is a public forum. Also, it does not provide enough space for solitude and tranquility which is one of the important elements for writing any literary work. Literature is based on self-reflexivity and social media does not give enough space for literary reflection or self- reflection as mentioned by James (2014).

But there are some positive effects of social media on literature wherein various authors and poets have commented how social media helped them to engage with their audience and led to growth in terms of their readership.

Positive Impacts of Social Media on Literature:

Many authors like Goldstein Love have commented that social media has helped many writers to gain recognition and social media can help in reviving literature because most people use it as a tool of exchanging information and communicating with each other. Often, it has been observed that people like to read books on various e-readers like Kindle as stated by Baker (2014). Sites like Amazon are opening platforms for writers to self-publish their works and receive royalty according to sales. Thus, social media has opened new opportunities for emerging and established authors.

There are many poetic groups which are encouraging writers to contribute their works for theme-based anthologies. Often, these poetic communities organize conferences and contests to engage with young poets and writers so as to invite fresh perspectives and narratives into literary domain. Thus, social media is helping young poets to polish their skills and meet with other like-minded and experienced people.

Even publication houses are using social media to promote a writer’s book and receive reviews. There are Facebook pages which are exclusively used by these authors to promote their works and gain recognition. Literary works have been influenced by readers’ opinions and views. Contemporary writers like Durjoy Dutta, Chetan Bhagat, etc. are well-known for their romantic writings, which cannot be categorized as ‘proper’ literature. Often, chic-lit is considered as literature but literature has its own muse and dignity. Thus, ‘proper’ literature should be defined accordingly.

Literature is about defining life and viewing life’s philosophy in newer ways and dimensions. Thus, as suggested by James (2014), art and literature should become public events but social media could be used for inviting attention of various writers to participate in such events. Facebook should not marginalize people who present complex opinions and thoughts. Social networks must help people to come out of their comfort zones and help them to know themselves. Embracing skepticism and transgression is important for self-expression.

CONCLUSION:

Digitization of literature has helped many writers to gain readership worldwide. Literature should be accessible and social media can help writers to gain hands on experience as social media can help writers to connect with established writers who can guide young writers and discuss about varied literary styles of narrating stories. Thus, social media should promote literature which has depth and reflects upon varied social realities. This would lead to emergence of new literary criticisms and theories which can help in broadening horizons of literature.

Digitization of literature can lead to enhanced readership and emotions should be given utmost priority while reading literary works. In-depth appreciation of literature is must while considering any medium to communicate creative works. Creativity should not be judged by superficial likes and clever comments. Rather, creativity should be appreciated as an asset for nation’s growth in cultural terms. Thus, digitization of literature should not hamper individual’s creativity. Also, social media should be used for promoting advanced literary works, other than chic-lit.

REFERENCES:

Jacobs, M.W. (2014). Social media and literature. In Huffpost. Retrieved from https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mw-jacobs/social-media-and-literatu_b_4802442.html  Accessed on July 21, 2018.

Egginton, W. & Wegenstein, B. The impact of media on literature. In Comparative literature: Sharing knowledges for preserving cultural diversity. Retrieved                  from http://www.eolss.net/sample-chapters/c04/e6-87-04-02.pdf  Accessed on July 21, 2018.

James, P. (2014). 8 reasons why social media is decimating art and literature. In Qwiklit. Retrieved from https://qwiklit.com/2014/03/08/8-reasons-why-social-media-is-decimating-art-and-literature/  Accessed on July 21, 2018.

Erin, A. (2014). The fusion of literature and social media. In Alabama Living.         Retrievedfromhttps://www.al.com/living/index.ssf/2014/ 10/the_fusion_of_literature_and_s.html  Accessed on July 21, 2018.

Baker, F. (2014). Is social media killing literature? In the London magazine. Retrieved from https://www.thelondonmagazine.org/is-social-media-killing-literature-by-Francesca-baker/  Accessed on July 21, 2018.

Parry, M. (2010). The humanities go google. In The chronicle of higher education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Humanities-Go-Google/65713  Accessed on July 21, 2018.

Mangen, A. (2016). The digitization of literary reading: Contributions from empirical research. In Orbis Litterarum. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/The-Humanities-Go-Google/65713 Accessed on July 21, 2018.

Accepted on 22.06.2019       

©A&V Publications all right reserved

International J. Advances in Social Sciences.2019;7(1-2):01-05.

DOI: 10.5958/2454-2679.2019.00001.X