Reflexions on the Role of Culture on the Use of Social Media

For someone relatively new to the use of social media, the #socialrecruiting summit was very insightful. I've learned a great deal and have met very talented colleagues. While listening to the various speakers I couldn't help myself to think about the differences that may exist across societies that share different value systems in relation to the use of social media. For example, I wondered if and how differences between collectivist and individualist societies play a role in communications through social media.

My interest in cross–cultural issues related to peoples’ behavior goes back a few years when I met Geert Hofstede, a Dutch researcher who is probably the most cited author on cross-cultural management literature. His book: “Cultures and Organizations: Software of the Mind” is a fascinating book that helped me a great deal in my role as an HR specialist. Having worked for international organizations for quite some time, I am convinced that cultural differences play a crucial role in recruitment and retention of staff.

So, going back to the issue of social media, I would venture to predict that cultural differences across societies have an impact on how much, what kind, and for what purpose people use social media.  Without trying to be conclusive here, since I am still researching this issue, I would like to reflect on a few ideas, especially about how collectivism and individualism may play a role. First let me provide a brief definition of these two cultural concepts:

Collectivist societies, according to Hofstede, are defined as societies that emphasize group goals over individual goals. For example, when individual and group goals conflict, individuals tend to align with the group rather than stand out as an individual.  People from birth onwards are integrated into strong, cohesive in-groups, often extended families which continue protecting them in exchange for unquestioning loyalty. Conflict is therefore avoided and harmony with the group is key to survival. In this context, I would predict that these societies tend to use social media to:

(1) “Cooperate” rather than “conflict” with others comments/posts;

(2) Share content, music, files, information; and

(3) Nurture long-term relationships. 

People in these societies would also be (4) less active in promoting a personal “brand”.  In these societies people are not suppose to show off their success.

This would suggest that they are probably high users of collaborative technologies and applications and probably highly active in group activities on social networks. They are probably high users of facebook compared to twitter.

Countries like Brazil, Japan, China, Thailand, Russia, Greece, Portugal, Bulgaria, and Romania, are considered to be collectivist. In fact, most of the countries around the globe are collectivist.

Individualist Societies, according to Hofstede, stress the idea of human independence and self-reliance, as well as liberty. Individuals tend to promote the exercise of individual goals. This means that individual goals can and often do conflict with group goals. Self-promotion is common. According to Hofstede, being blunt and direct is a typical trait in these societies. Since ties between individuals tend to be loose, people tend to value short-term relationships when compared with collectivist societies and are more prone to shorten them if it does not promote individual goals. Probably people tend to use more direct, short, quick, social media such as Twitter rather than Facebook.

Countries like the US, UK, Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, Scandinavian countries, are found to be the most individualist societies with the US heading the group. This could explain the huge success of Twitter and tools alike in these countries where the relationship tend to be short-term.

In sum, culture brings useful information to help recruiters pick the most suitable tool to target candidates in a specific country or region. Having said that, we cannot also forget the role of technology limitations felt in some regions of the globe. For example, it is more likely that people in developing regions have easier access to a mobile phone than a computer and therefore will connect with others through software designed for mobile phones.

Your insights would be most welcome.