Reading preferences during the pandemic (based on the materials of Russian and English speaking social networks)

Abstract

Book communication has changed considerably caused by the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and restrictive measures in order to minimize its spread. It has manifested itself in isolation of people from each other, including self-isolation, and the predominance of the online format over alternative ways of activity (mixed and offline format). The article examines interests and motivation of readers during the pandemic period in the book social networks in order to determine the features of readers’ preferences when implementing social reading in the Russian and English Internet environments. To achieve the aim, the following tasks have been set: 1) to find relevant (i. e. with up-to-date information on them and with at least a million users) Russian and English book social networks that provide the opportunity for book communication; 2) tto analyze social reading on the selected networks; 3) to compare the obtained data in accordance with the certain criteria. The book social networks LiveLib and BookMix have been chosen as the material for the analysis of the Russian-language segment of the Internet, and the book social network Goodreads and the LibraryThing web application – to analyze the English part of the Internet. This material has been considered according to the following criteria: 1) genre and themes of books discussed on the online platforms; 2) motivation and expectations of book readers when choosing a certain kind of literature during the period under study. To determine the peculiarities of Russian-speaking and English-speaking readers, discussing books they have read in the Internet, methods of comparative analyses of the data obtained from both Internet segments and their generalization have been used.