The Influence of Social Media Platforms on Creative Writing in English: An Analytical Study

Abstract

The emergence of multiple social media platforms which include Twitter/X Instagram Wattpad Tumblr TikTok and Reddit has completely transformed how people create English literary works. The research paper investigates how digital literary spaces have transformed creative writing through their ability to democratize access and their impact on writers aesthetic and linguistic abilities. The paper uses media studies and stylistics and literary criticism to demonstrate how social media gives users a platform to express themselves while its algorithmic content control and user attention systems and its specific platform formats restrict their artistic output. The analysis of the work uses four evaluation criteria which include examination of language and style and study of audience and community and assessment of literary gatekeeping and investigation of how creativity becomes commercialized. The paper concludes that academic professionals who want to maintain authentic artistic expression in current times must develop a deep understanding of social media.

Keywords: social media, creative writing, digital literature, algorithmic culture, attention economy, Wattpad, microfiction, linguistic change.