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7/29/2019 Presentation Boras

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Does culture matter in Computer

Mediated Communication?A Cross-Cultural Content Analysis inMySpace

Salvador Alvdrez & Lifen Cheng

16th NIC Symposium of Intercultural Communication (University of Boras, Sweden) November 2009

Department of Sociology and CommunicationUniversity of Salamanca, Spain


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Hyperpersonal Communication ModelJoseph B. Walther

Senders ReceiversSelf-presentationthrough available

cues

(pictures, text)

Over-atribution of

senders

characteristics

Asynchronous

Channels

(Forums, SocialNetwork

Profiles)

Feedback is based on a selective behavior (Behavioral Confirmation)

Social-Emotion-Oriented Model in Computer-mediated Communication



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Asynchronous channel: Social Network Sites

* People can choose a better selection of the messages theysend than in a Face to Face interaction because there is nottime pressure.

* Users can also choose a selective self-appearence throughavailable cues (pictures, text, streaming clips).


Cultural Differences on Websites design and Self-presentation:(Wrtz, E., 2005; Faiola, A. & Matei, S.A., 2005; Callahan, E., 2005; Kang, S., 2005)

* Greater usage of images in Collectivist Cultures (High ContextCommunication), in order to provide context.

* Greater usage of text in Individualist Cultures (Low ContextCommunication), in order to provide an accurate information.


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Social Network Profile: MySpace

MySpace has more than 110 million monthly active

usersaround the globe (Facebook has 60 million).(Jan, 2008)

Sources:Techradar(http://techradar1.wordpress.com/2008/01/11/facebookmyspace-statistics)Comscore (www.comscore.com)

The world's most popular social networking siteMySpace is to allow users to make theirinformation available to otherwebsites. BBC NEWS (May, 2008)

Self-presentation box forcommunication style

Feedback Box



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Research Questions:

1. Does a cultural influence on the communication style used inMySpace users interactions exist?

2. How does this style differ among users from two differentcultural contexts?


Burleson et. al. (1994):Individuals are most likely to have

enjoyable interactions with others and develop relationships ifthey perceive they have similar communication styles.

Edward T. Hall (1959): A mutual understanding is not so difficultwhen two interlocutors share the same social or cultural

background

Social Attraction & Communication Style


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Methodology

* Content analysis of over 517 profiles in Spain and the

United Kingdom.

* Measures of graphic elements were drawn throughexchanges of static and animated pictures as well asaudio/video streaming clips.

Main Predictions:

Cultural differences in graphic elements and text

exchanges in MySpace profiles.* Greater usage of graphic elements in High Contextculture users.

*More direct and personal language in text exchanges in

Low Context culture users.



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Vagueness

* Powerless Language model: Presents an overuse of polite

forms, Hedges (Sort of), Intensifiers (Really) Tag Questions(Isnt it?) and so on. (Lakoff, R., 1975; Erickson et al., 1978; Hosman, 1989).

Directness

* Usage ofDirectives(Write this down) andJudgmentalAdjectives(Its good to). (Gudykunst & Ting Toomey, 2000)

Personal vs Contextual references

* Usage of pronoun I and personal references (Me, Mine, My)and pronoun We and contextual references (Our, Own, Lets).(Cassell & Tversky, 2005; Gudykunst & Ting Toomey, 2000)



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Results for usage of graphic elements

SpainUnited Kingdom

4

2

3

Streaming Audio/Video clips

* Static and animated images were not significant predictors of regionmembership.

3.5

2.5

=-.125, Wald=17.35, t(515)=4.66,p


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Results for written language

Usage of language features by regions

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

Hedge

s

Intensifi

ers

Questi

ons

"I"Re

feren

ces

Directi

ves

Judg

Adjec

t

M

eans

UK

Spain


Statistical tests: T-test and Logistic Regression, using Region as DV and Language Features as predictors.

Vagueness Straightness


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Conclusions

There may already exist a significant cultural influence on Myspaceusers communication style, when they come into interaction with

another users through this asynchronous CMC.

Findings partially corroborated predictions: a screen-usage of

Audio/Video Clips Streaming as well as usage of Intensifiers andQuestions in language were more frequent in profiles from Spain. Onthe other hand, a more usage of Hedges, Directives, JudgmentalAdjectives and personal (I) references were found in profiles fromthe United Kingdom.

Future research will considerate the influence of communication styleson social behavioural confirmation between users with differentcultural backgrounds.

British users tend to use a more direct and personal communicationstyle. Spanish users prefer streaming exchanges and the usage of amore indirect communication style.



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Senders Receivers

Feedback (Behavioral Confirmation)

Cultural influence on Communication Style


Personal and contextual constraints: Education, Social Class, Ethnicity,Race, Topic of communication, Interpersonal relationships

Interaction effects through language accommodationin Computer mediated Communication


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Salvador Alvdrez

Department of Sociology and Communication

University of Salamanca

[email protected]

[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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Results for written language


16,5

39,74

14,05

30,61

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Men Women

Est

imatedMarginalMeans

Spain

UK

Usage of personal (I) references by gender and regions

Statistical tests: ANCOVA test using word count, genderand age as covariates.

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