Affective maps as a method for studying the emotional structures of information within online reading communities: the case of BookTok

Affective maps are a method for visualising the relationship between information and the emotions that arise in online communication processes. In recent years, reading communities on social media—where the exchange of opinions about books is closely linked to the expression of emotions—have emerged as a particularly interesting context for their application.
In this presentation, I analyse the possibility of applying affective mapping to the study of book discussions within the BookTok community. I propose a research model based on the identification of emotional categories present in both comments and user posts, and their subsequent visualisation in the form of a network of relationships.
The aim of the presentation is to introduce this concept and the proposed analytical approach, which I plan to use in further research into the emotional dimension of information structures in digital reading communities.