I’m sure we’ve all read the reviews on the back of books. A few sentences long, they offer praise for the author’s mastery and a promise of the book’s brilliance. However, we rarely see people discussing their thoughts on a particular book in our day-to-day life. There are almost no group interactions about the same reading outside of a reading group or class; people don’t generally share every step of their reading process because everyone reads at a different pace and it seems unnatural to stop and discuss something. Where can we find informal opinions and real-time dialogue between readers about reading? The comment sections of online storytelling forms. There are many sites that serve as platforms for online storytelling, such as Tapas, Webtoon, Wattpad and WebComics. I personally interact the most with Webtoon so I will focus on it for my analysis.
Allow me to explain the system on Webtoon: Webtoon is a webcomic publishing portal with many comics in a wide range of genres. They have a “Featured” collection of comics that are Webtoon-supported. These comics are much better drawn and told than the rest. All Featured Webtoons are updated weekly, and there are options to like and comment on the chapter, as well as like or dislike comments. After a while, the three most liked comments become Top Comments. I have noticed certain patterns in the contents of the comments that make it to Top Comment, so I tallied the ones that fell into each category.
I categorized the three Top Comments on the most recent chapters of the Featured Webtoons I read and here’s what I found:
9 on character development
1 on cliffhangers
20 jokes
84 reactions
32 observations/theories
1 about other functions of webtoon like liking the chapter
8 on author appreciation
9 #relatable-type comments
15 direct message to a character
When a professional book reviewer is writing, they are writing because it is their job. In Webtoon comment sections, we do see many of the same topics that professional book reviewers talk about come up, such as comments on character development, reactions, and other observations, but they are not written with the same mindset. With Webtoon comments, we see a great motley of reactions that are unacceptable in a traditional book review setting. Some are personal testimonials on ways a chapter touched them, others lists of affirmations from strangers that are completely unrelated to a chapter, emergency hotlines when a chapter touches on sensitive topics, confusion on plot holes, and speculation and theories. Comment threads have a much more personal and engaged presence. Instead of serving as an advertisement for the book, which is what book reviews often do, these informal comment sections delve into whatever commenters can offer. While some are similar to book reviews, like comments on character growth or commendations for an author, Webtoon comments allow for the spontaneity and randomness that are able to stir someone’s emotions in a way that formulaic reviews do not.
Books are a unique and personal experience that may inspire epiphany, relatability, joy, and many other emotions in a reader. However, this experience is mostly kept private. Other media have platforms to interact with a community through a shared adventure of reading and discussion. If you have the time, I encourage you to follow some online storytelling; it is an interesting and interactive form of entertainment.
This sounds really cool and kind of like social media for reading. I think the angle you took on this post was really interesting. The types of Top Comments should be like a social experiment or something lol. Having a space to informally share opinions on stories sounds enjoyable, though. I know a few other people who also read and really like Webtoons, so maybe I'll check it out!
ReplyDeleteUsing comments from an informal online storytelling websites is a creative way to analyse reader's interactions with what they read. It changes my perspective on what these comments actually portray. Great idea for a blog post!
ReplyDeleteThis is amazing! I read Webtoons, too, and I also enjoy reading the comments. It’s fun to see what other people think and where their views line up. I never really gave the comments much thought, but the trends you pointed out are really interesting. I agree that Webtoon is a unique, exciting, supportive and uplifting platform, in my experience with it.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really different experience than just reading a book in hand and instead having more visuals. I know there are some other things like this that some of my friends use for books and stories, but I might have to check Webtoon out because of the visual aspect.
ReplyDeleteIt's been a long while since I've really interacted with Webtoon, but I'm glad to remember it again. The points you bring up are all things I've never really thought about, and like others have said, it's a nice angle. I have actually taken to avoiding reading back-of-the-book blurbs, as well as those on the front inside cover, as they often give away too much of the story and ruin the reading experience. I have dropped books because of that.
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