National Social Media Day is June 30. Organized to recognize how social media has shaped how we interact, shop and receive information online, it was first observed in 2010. Despite the celebration’s focus on the positive ways social media brings us together, time has shown its effect is not always so benign. Dip into one of these books, where social media plays a role in the storyline.

Fake Accounts, a novel by Lauren Oyler. “On the eve of Trump’s inauguration, a young woman discovers that her boyfriend is a popular online conspiracy theorist. After his sudden death, she relocated to Berlin and begins experimenting with false identities of her own,” describes starbookmark.com. Themes of Oyler’s novel include the performative nature of online posting, authenticity, self-invention, gaslighting and community.

No One is Talking About This by Patricia Lockwood. This novel asks: Is there life after the internet? The narrator, a prominent social media influencer, mostly lives within the internet world, which she calls “the portal.” As she gets sucked deeper into the portal’s sphere, texts from her mom about a family tragedy yank her back into the real world.

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green is a young adult novel about how April grapples with overnight viral fame when a video of her and her friend Andy throws them into intense media spotlight and international recognition. While dealing with the new pressures on her relationships, her identity and her safety, she also tries to figure out the mystery of The Carls—the subject of her viral video—ten-foot-tall Transformer-like samurai statues that just appeared all around the world.

Influenced: The Impact of Social Media on Our Perception by Brian Box Wachler “pulls the curtain back on what happens to our brains each time we addictively engage social media….a demonstrable impact on how we think, feel and perceive everything around us—and even how we react to stimuli,” states the nonfiction book’s blurb. Brian Wachler is a medical social media influencer and renowned eye surgeon.

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang. Julie Chan is barely getting by on her cashier job, but her twin sister Chloe has everything, including a huge following as an influencer. Julie quietly slips into Chloe’s life when she finds her sister dead, but Chloe’s real life is not nearly as fabulous or flawless as she posted. Surrounded by Chloe’s inner circle, Julie is stuck on a private island retreat as ominous forces emerge. Zhang’s novel is one of NPR’s Books We Love for 2025.

Siri, Who Am I? by Sam Tschida is a novel that follows Mia as she winds through her Instagram posts to rediscover who she really is. After waking up from a coma and short-term amnesia, Mia learns her name from her iPhone’s Siri assistant and discovers Max, the house sitter for Mia’s boyfriend. Mia and Max try to piece her life together before it is too late.

Watch Us Rise by Renée Watson and Ellen Hagan is a young adult novel about two girls, Jasmine and Chelsea, who start a Women’s Rights Club at school. Posting everything, their videos go viral, with mixed results—lots of support and online trolls. How much will the girls risk to have their voices heard?

Under the Influence, a novel by Noelle Crooks. Living in NYC, down on her luck, Harper is desperate for a good job. Despite the pressure to quickly accept, she is thrilled to work for self-help guru Charlotte Green in Nashville. But all is not as it seems in The Greenhouse. Harper slowly realizes Charlotte’s glamorous world comes at a steep price.

Sunny Song Will Never Be Famous, a novel by Suzanne Park. Sunny is a teenage social media influencer whose summer plans are foiled. Digital detox camp in Iowa is not how Sunny wants to spend her summer and gets in the way of her actual summer goals. Does she find a way back online, or revel in real life with her forced internet disconnect?

Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia is a young adult novel about shy and weird Eliza, who happens to be the secret creator of an immensely famous webcomic: Monstrous Sea. When a new boy comes to school, they become friends, bonding over Monstrous Sea, until Eliza’s secret gets out and her world, online and off, begins to collapse.

 

By Celeste McNeil; courtesy photos