Cultural Differences in Self-Presentation on Social Networking Sites: A Cross-cultural Comparison Between American and Japanese College Students

This dissertation explores cultural and platform differences in self-presentation on social networking sites (SNSs) between Japanese and American college students utilizing Impression Management, Media Ecology, and Uses and Gratifications theories and approaches as theoretical frameworks. While Facebook is popular among American college students, Mixi, a Japanese originated SNS, as well as Facebook are popular among Japanese college students. This dissertation investigates the relationship among social culture, the types of SNSs, and the users\u27 self-presentation on SNSs. Previous studies suggest SNS users employ subtle techniques to improve ones\u27 presentation on SNSs, therefore the present study focused on the number of SNS friends and sensitive picture postings (i.e., partying, drunk, sexy, or illegal picture postings) on SNSs. Five hundred and eighty-three American and 496 Japanese college students participated in the survey, which provided the basis for analyses. The results of the present study demonstrate cultural and SNS platform differences on self-presentation on SNSs. Reflecting regional culture, Japanese Mixi users included limited types of friends on Mixi compared with American and Japanese Facebook users by not including teachers and parents. However, contradict to previous studies, Japanese Facebook users had the largest number of SNS friends followed by Japanese Mixi and American Facebook users after controlling for preexisting conditions (i.e., gender, perception of extraversion, perception of popularity, and the length of membership with the SNS). The similar pattern surfaced in the frequency of sensitive picture postings on SNSs. When the above controlling variables were included in the analyses, Japanese Facebook users posted sensitive pictures the most frequently followed by Japanese Mixi users and Japanese Facebook users. Furthermore, the present study found Facebook and Mixi dual users friended significantly more people and posted significantly more partying and drunk pictures on Facebook than on Mixi. However, the same individuals did not change the frequency of posting sensitive pictures between Facebook and Mixi. The results added evidence to media ecology. The mediation analyses helped to understand underlying mechanisms of sensitive picture postings on SNSs. The present study found that the Japanese SNS dual users posted drunk pictures on Facebook significantly more frequently due to the perception of injunctive norms. Likewise, the present study found American Facebook users posted sensitive pictures because of the perception of disinhibition. Theoretical as well as practical implications are discussed and possible future research is presented

Examining social networking site narratives between government and youth on entrepreneurship : the case of relationship development in Egypt

Analysis of the ways in which SNS (Social Networking Sites) are used by governments, organisations and everyday users has over the past ten years been of significant interest to academic researchers. Part of this analysis of use has included understanding how in the Middle East, SNS were used in the series of anti-government protests known as the Arab Spring. Specifically, in Egypt, during the January 25 Revolution, a large number of youth users went on SNS such as Facebook to disseminate information, create conversations and raise awareness of their perspectives and concerns. Whilst use in protest and demonstration may result in aspects such as a drop in public trust of government agents, SNS could also contribute to significant relational outcomes such as relationship development and trust.This study takes Egypt as its foci in investigating the outcomes of SNS interaction between Government agencies and Youth users. This study aims to understand the role of the topic about which conversations are occurring in communicating with the citizens. Additionally, this study places emphasis on the role of the government agency in changing the perceptions of the Government through SNS interactions.This study contributes to the burgeoning domain of SNS studies by providing a non- traditional approach to its theoretical background. It specifically achieves this by adopting three areas of focus; first, SNS which includes a site and user perspective. Second, the political context which includes Marketing theory and government studies. Third, relationship development and trust which includes a multi theory lens into theorising the outcomes of SNS interactions. Therefore, it is the first study to apply Political Marketing Theory in Egypt in a non-electoral context. Using novel applications of Relationship Marketing and Public Relations theory, this study presents an understanding of the relationship orientation in the interaction between GOFE and Youth on SNS. Furthermore, the analysis regarding trust development in this study is developed through a framework that highlights both the users’ perspective of trust and the organisations' efforts towards achieving trust.This study adopts a social constructivist approach. Therefore, this investigation embraces qualitative inductive methods. Due to the rich culture and high interaction of the context investigated, the research problem at hand was addressed through the application of netnography. The Netnographic package includes; firstly, an online observation of Facebook pages followed by textual analysis. Secondly, it includes two sets of interviews with a sample of the users (i.e. Youth) and the organisations (i.e. GOFE). Using Thematic Analysis ten different themes were extracted from the three sources of data (i.e. Facebook data, GOFE interviews and Youth interviews).The findings from this study suggest that GOFE SNS representation is not yet mature. However, findings demonstrate that GOFE are in the process of becoming a generalisable model of government SNS representation. This could occur with the drop in control over engagement and movement to engagement strategies beyond those targeted primarily at publicity alone. Indeed, this study confirms the significant influence of SNS in fostering positive relational outcomes between the Government and Youth, while confirming the role of the topic and agency. These findings are discussed in light of theoretical contribution and practical implication to the government sector. Whereas previous studies have focused on one aspect of the communication process, this study is the first conducted in the public sector domain in Egypt that focuses on the observed behaviours of GOFE on SNS, perceived behaviours of GOFE by Youth and the strategic intent of GOFE by being present on SNS. This study concludes with limitations incurred and recommendations for practice and future studies. Finally, this study argues that with a further optimised SNS representation, there is indeed hope in developing relationships and achieving trust between Government and citizens in Egypt through SNS interaction

Instagram Use and Its Effect on Well-Being and Self-Esteem

Over the last ten years, social media has become an integral facet of modern society. In particular, image-based social networking sites such as Instagram have become increasingly popular among adolescents and young adults. However, despite this proliferation of use, the literature remains divided regarding the potential impacts of social media, particularly in regards to image-based platforms. The present study sought to analyze the relationship between social media usage patterns and its subsequent effects on user self-esteem and well-being. However, the study’s results show that, despite the existing literature, intensity of Instagram use serves as a mediating variable in this relationship. The study’s results show that it is intensity of use, not usage patterns, that determine user outcomes. Finally, the results show that users who engage with Instagram more intensely exhibit higher levels of self-esteem and well-being than users who do not use the application intensely

Screening Job Candidates with Social Media: A Manipulation of Disclosure Requests

In an attempt to find better employee organization fit, recruiters have turned to screening job candidates in part by reviewing their social media accounts. Job candidates may view these practices in a variety of ways, depending on the type of access requested and the individual characteristics of the job candidate. In this study, we measured changes in trust in the employer based on three increasingly intrusive disclosure requests and four individual characteristics. Findings from 162 participants suggest that a request for social media account logins reduces the trust in the employer, whereas collectivism, perceived privacy protection competence, and social media production increases trust in the employer. These findings have important implications for privacy research and for human resource screening practices

Social media recruitment : communication characteristics and sought gratifications

This study examines how social media pages can be used to influence potential applicants' attraction. Based on the uses and gratifications theory, this study examines whether organizations can manipulate the communication characteristics informativeness and social presence on their social media page to positively affect organizational attractiveness. Moreover, we examine whether job applicants' sought gratifications on social media influence these effects. A 2 x 2 between-subjects experimental design is used. The findings show that organizations can manipulate informativeness and social presence on their social media. The effect of manipulated informativeness on organizational attractiveness depends on the level of manipulated social presence. When social presence was high, informativeness positively affected organizational attractiveness. This positive effect was found regardless of participants' sought utilitarian gratification. Social presence had no significant main effect on organizational attractiveness. There was some evidence that the effect of social presence differed for different levels of social gratification

The Role of Social Media in Affective Trust Building in Customer-Supplier Relationships

Trust represents a key issue in building successful customer-supplier relationships. In this sense, social software represents a powerful means for fostering trust by establishing a direct, more personal communication channel with customers. Therefore, companies are now investing in so-cial media for building their social digital brand and strengthening relationships with their cus-tomers. In this paper, we presented two experiments by means of which we investigated the role of traditional websites and social media in trust building along the cognitive and affective di-mensions. We hypothesize that traditional websites (content-oriented) and social media (interac-tion-oriented) may have a different effect on trust building in customer-supplier relationships, based on the first impression provided to potential customers. Although additional research is still needed, our findings add to the existing body of evidence that both cognitive and affective trust can be successfully fostered through online presence. Specifically, social media provides companies with tools to communicate benevolence to potential customer and, therefore, foster the affective commitment of customers. Traditional websites, instead, are more appropriate for communicating the competence and reliability of a company, by fostering trust building along the cognitive dimension. The results of our studies provide implications for researchers and practi-tioners, by highlighting the importance of combining the two media for effectively building a trustworthy online company image

Communication management 2.0: The development of three socio-cognitive models for brand page usage

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how and why individuals use corporate pages on Facebook with the aim of developing a usage-specific inventory of incentive factors which describe brand page utilization for consumption, participation and production behavior. Design/methodology/approach – A combined perspective of uses-and-gratifications (U&G) and social cognitive theory (SCT) was applied to develop three models of brand page behavior. Based on a literature review, an online survey (N¼215) was conducted. Exploratory factor analyses identified motivational factors based on SCT incentive dimensions, which were cross-validated using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Findings – Results indicate that consumption behavior can best be explained by activity, self-reactive-novel and monetary incentives. Status incentives, practical-novel and self-reactive-idealistic incentives drive participation. Production behavior is best explained by social, self-reactive and status incentives. Practical implications – The models’ strategic implications for integrated communication management are discussed. Originality/value – The results suggest interconnections of incentive dimensions unique to brand page usage, which have not yet been explored in any research