Let's face it:
The internet has changed how we write, communicate, and process information. In the digital landscape of clip thinking, a short attention span, and online personas, traditional arts transform and find new platforms for expression.
Take poetry on social media, for example:
Now, we can observe the digital poetry revolution and see new, young poets emerge in real time. Social media platforms like X, TikTok, and Instagram popularize poetry and allow us to consume it massively. At the same time, their algorithms and constraints of character limits contribute to the emergence of alternative poetry trends among youth, reshaping traditional writing forms we could see in books, studies by a research paper writing service, journals, or letters by great poets.
Is such a transformation of poetry a good or bad thing?
Let's reflect together.
Image by Lara Farber on Pexels
The Digital Renaissance of Poetry
The truth is that poetry has never had as a broad audience as other traditional art forms. Some adored it; others hated it; poets themselves weren't so many as those bringing prose. In the early 2000s, the Internet made the world more open for self-expression, and different online platforms became thriving hubs for poets of all backgrounds and experiences.
First, we got personal blogs on platforms like Blogger and LiveJournal. Websites like AllPoetry and Poetry.com welcomed artists willing to engage with the poetry community and consume new works of young lyricists.
Later, big dogs like Facebook, Tumblr, and MySpace emerged. They were an easy way for younger generations to share their art and build a massive audience. The accessibility and peculiarities (algorithms, constraints, etc.) of different social media platforms encouraged youth to experiment with poetry form, style, and their author voice.
It was the time we observed the shift from traditional publishing to digital self-expression.
Thus, YouTube helped slam poetry grow. Twitter's original 140-character limit encouraged experimentation with brevity, boosting genres like haikus, short verses, and other micro-poetry.
Then, Instagram hit the scene, significantly shifting the poetry landscape. We've got a sub-genre known as Instapoetry, the works emphasizing visual appeal and written specifically for social media platforms. Critics don't have a consensus on that: Some call Instapoetry "gateway drug to literature," while others mark it as "self-indulgent rubbish aimed at an unevolved readership."
In one way or another, youth are now transforming poetry via social media. TikTok is a key platform that brings the poetrytok trend: short poems with visual and audio components.
How Youth Are Transforming Poetry
Rupi Kaur, Lang Leav, Nikita Gill, Atticus, and Tyler Knott Gregson. There are just a few new (read: young) poets who went viral and gained global audiences and book deals thanks to social media. They challenged traditional poetic forms and created new styles to "please" both algorithms and rapidly changing online user behaviors:
They emphasize a visualization of their poetry, and their works are usually a few lines long, accompanied by a photo or drawing.
These poems are more about emotions, authenticity, and relatability. Youth blend their poetry with modern woes like mental health awareness, social justice issues (feminism, immigration, gun violence, etc.), activism, etc., often stripping down their style so readers can understand their core message fast enough to hit the like button.
(Likes, shares, and comments impact a poet's reach today, and a single short poem can go viral and boost discussions on social media. With that in mind, a new generation of poets crafts their works with a one-click consumption in mind.)
The artists mentioned above have already turned their art into an industry: International acclaim, multiple book deals, and a cult-like following within the poetic community.
At the same time, such a rapid evolution of Instagram- and TikTok-like poetry on social media kickstarts and stimulates ongoing debates between literary critics, traditionalists, and digital poets:
Can we call Instapoetry and poetrytoks poetry? Is social media suitable for poetry, given that it evolves poems from an art form into an industry?
Criticism and Challenges of Social Media Poetry
While the benefits of moving poetry to social media are many (improved accessibility, rising interest among young people, strengthened poetic community), some critics argue that:
They claim that social media-driven formats like micro-poetry or Instapoetry lead to a rise of mediocre, "pop culture" content that lacks literary complexity and depth.
Naysayers put the following arguments against digital poetry on the table:
- Oversimplification and lack of depth
Critics say poems' brevity on social media platforms like X (ex-Twitter) oversimplifies poetry. Users skim through longer verses, not appreciating their complexity, which makes it challenging for young poets to connect with their audience. And it's not about a lack of talent:
It's because of social media content over-saturation, making it super hard for a poet to stand out. Understanding the specifics of content visibility and promotion, young poets may give up depth to short, simple, and "comfortable" words, thus sacrificing their writing voice and style.
- Pressure to create content for engagement rather than artistic integrity
Social media risks turning poetry from art and self-expression into a lucrative career move. While poems on Instagram can be creative, artistic, and with poetic elements involved, their initial goal is different: They are designed to sell.
Craving monetization and career opportunities, young poets rely on social media algorithms a lot. They know what messages algorithms are more likely to show and what — to bury within the endless abyss of content. So, they craft their texts accordingly, writing with the pressure of likes and shares in mind, not genuine and meaningful self-expression.
That was the point of specialists criticizing Rupi Kaur as the brightest representative of Instapoets. Thus, Hannar Taylor called social media poetry minor literature, "an exercise in self-indulgence, lacking depth, and capitalizing on readers' identity insecurities to turn a profit."
But:
Poetry on social media is here to stay, and a growing community of people is beginning to accept it and take it more seriously. Youth are revolutionizing poetry through social media, making it more accessible than ever, so we have something to celebrate.
In a Word
It's not a battle between traditional and online poetry: They are different forms of art and expression. It's about poetry's response to the eras and platforms within which it lives. So, if you read and enjoy poetry, explore it on social networks and support young poets.
They bring new, internet-born sub-genres to our poetry club.