Are Avid Adolescent Readers Social Networking About Books?

Abstract

The possibilities for making social connections around books have increased with the advent of online social networking. This article explores engagement of keen adolescent book readers from the West Australian Study in Adolescent Book Reading in social networking in general, and social networking around books. Frequent book readers are found to have a lower frequency of engagement in social networking than infrequent readers, with some students resistant to social networking in general. Others used social networking to access book reviews, without active participation. The most active participants were members of reading and self-publishing sites of fiction and fan-fiction.