Uploaded February 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 hours ago
Sonali Kulkarni is researching #BookTok and #rereading, mostly on #TikTok. But she is also a 'normal' user of #TikTok, consuming content about tennis and other topics she is interested in. What is it like to research practices and platforms you are also engaged with in your leisure time? Kulkarni believes TikTok's algorithms know when she is looking at a video as a researcher due to the ways in which she will interact with the video. As a result, TikTok will adapt itself to the situation and mood she is in, whether that means "doomscrolling" in the middle of the night, or focusing on content that is relevant to her research topic.
Sonali Kulkarni is researching #BookTok and #rereading, mostly on #TikTok. But she is also a 'normal' user of #TikTok, consuming content about tennis and other topics she is interested in. What is it like to research practices and platforms you are also engaged with in your leisure time? Kulkarni believes TikTok's algorithms know when she is looking at a video as a researcher due to the ways in which she will interact with the video. As a result, TikTok will adapt itself to the situation and mood she is in, whether that means "doomscrolling" in the middle of the night, or focusing on content that is relevant to her research topic.
