1. Sri Maya Tamanai
CRS 400
Research Project
ARE CULTURAL VALUES
EVIDENT THROUGH SOCIAL
MEDIA USAGE BETWEEN
INDONESIAN AND AMERICAN
FACEBOOK USERS?

2.  This study aims to investigate the manner in which
cultural contexts affect the social media
participation on Facebook between American and
Indonesian users and to examine if cultural
differences influence the way users communicate
through social media and whether or not these
cultural distinctions are evident in their social media
behavior.
RESEARCH OBJECTIVE:

3.  According to research, social networking sites
persuade millions of users each day to adopt specific
behaviors.
 Facebook is designed to be more persuasively
“assertive and mechanistic”, and made for users to
achieve goals such as “create profile pages, invite
friends, respond to content by friends and returning to
site often.”
 It constructs the way we interact with people
 Given that most of the social web have been designed
around the US cultural context, a lot of it‟s functions
and features were designed to appeal and correlate to
the contexts of American culture.
BACKGROUND:

4.  In essence, Facebook is made for a highly
individualistic culture and constructs the way people
interact with one another.
Therefore…
 Do Indonesian users adopt to the individualistic culture
embedded in social media?

5.  Observation:
 An examination of the Facebook profiles of five people from
Indonesia and the US
 A multi-case study of photos and statuses posted on the
Facebook profiles of active users posted over a 3-week period
 2 female, 3 male for American
 3 female, 2 male for Indonesian
 Age range: 16 – 25
 To observe if there are reoccurring patterns in the type of status
updates posted by users and if there are similar/general themes
 To observe whether or not Indonesians adopt to the individualistic
culture embedded in Facebook and if American users utilize the
functions/properties designed on Facebook to it‟s individualistic
potential
METHODS:

6. RESULTS:
DATA #1 – STATUS UPDATES
Status theme
1 Article shares, links
- Politics
- Current issues
- Pop-culture
29/105
2 Personal expression: thoughts, interests
and current activity/location
26/105
3 Advertising
- Events (concerts, performances, etc)
- Self and business promotion
- Awareness issues
23/105
4 Music
- Link shares
- Song lyrics
14/105
5 Sports
- Sports enthusiast opinions
- Video links
13/105
Subject A – American users
Top 5 recurring status themes and statistic of each recurrence:

7. Subject B – Indonesian users

8. DATA #2: PHOTOS:
Types of photos posted on American users vs. Indonesian users:

9. Indonesian users:
- Entertainment seeking
- Utilize FB for personal expression
- Treats FB status updates like Twitter
- Religion is evident through social media use
OBSERVATION RESULTS:
American users:
– Use FB as information and entertainment seeking
– Utilize FB to communicate and promote something
– Use FB as content sharing (music, article links, etc)
– Significant boasting, self-promotion evident

10.  According to Hofstede‟s cultural
dimensions, individualism can be defined as a
preference for “a loosely-knit social framework in which
individuals are expected to take care of only
themselves and their immediate families.”
(Hofstede, 2001)
It has to do with whether people‟s self image is defined
in terms of “I” or “We”.
 In collectivist societies, people belong to „in groups‟
(family) that take care of them in exchange for loyalty.
FINDINGS:
INDIVIDUALISM/COLLECTIVISM

11. Indonesia is known to be a collectivist culture, as
family plays an important role in Indonesian values
It‟s evident through the photos posted by
Indonesian users that individualism is present
since there are albums dedicated to themselves,
titled „me‟.
A lot of users post many „selfie‟ images, and many
of the times there will be multiple photos of the
user in different angles or locations that were
taken the same day.
However, many Indonesian users have albums
dedicated to family and significant others, which
somewhat show a collectivist nature deep inside.

12.  Although it seems to be that Indonesian users are
adapting to the individualistic dimension found in
American culture, there are noticeable cultural
differences evident between American and Indonesian
users.
 Hofstede‟s cultural dimension of masculine/feminine can
be observed between Indonesian and American users.
 “Masculinity is seen to be the trait that emphasizes
ambition, acquisition of wealth and differentiated gender
roles”, while feminine is seen to be the trait that
“emphasizes nurture, caring and more fluid gender roles.”
(Hofstede, 2001)
MASCULINE/FEMININE

13.  By examining American users status updates, they represent a
more masculine culture since a lot of users self-promote
themselves, showing an ego-oriented state of mind. Because they
self-promote their work and business, they show a sense of „live in
order to work‟.
 While the Indonesians users use Facebook as away to self-
express, many of their status updates are about life inspiration
quotes and religious preaching‟s about life, it shows that they
present a nurture and caring culture.
 Many Indonesian users also post status updates about their
friends and loved ones, showing a relationship-oriented culture.
For example, one user posted a status wishing a happy one-year
anniversary to a friend and this is something that wasn‟t seen
amongst American users at all.

14. There seems to be little cultural distinctions in
the way Indonesian users participate through
Facebook.
They have significantly adapted to the
individualistic style embedded in Facebook
but utilize it differently.
But because of the way Indonesian users
utilize the features on Facebook differently
than American users, cultural influences are
evident in their social media behavior.
CONCLUSION

15. Gender and personality play a significant role in
examining the social media behavior of Facebook
users.
Even though someone is American or Indonesian,
their personality type such as introvert or
extrovert could affect the way users utilize and
express themselves through Facebook.
Additionally, gender roles could affect the type of
content posted and shared by both users of each
nation.
LIMITATIONS