Do you think? - Social networks and westernization.

[rockchalk]

Do you guys think social networks like Facebook and Twitter encourage western values (or maybe more American) around the world?

Let me rephrase, do social networks encourage other cultures to take on western ideals and values?

I'm a technologist and I'm working on a degree in sociology. I want to do a research project and I'm looking down this path.
Thanks

 

[Craig234]

What about the other direction - might they influence the west to better understand the rest of the world?

What about influencing both to something new, not just copying one another?

But I do suspect that yes, the influence will tend to be towards the west - other societies are frequently more insulated.

One issue I have with all this technology from television to affordable air travel, is the homogenization of cultures.

At first, it's enrichening - but then you have a big soup with every flavor.

Should I be glad when I hear Castro in the early 60's watched "Flipper", Vietnam's favorite show was "baywatch", Iran loves Charlie's Angles?

Or should I worry about the loss of culture there?

One thing seems clear, it'll make the world smaller the more the world communicates, for better or worse. What now seems far away and exotic, will seem a lot less so.

 

[yllus]

Only in that they foster peer to peer communication, and through that, some amount of anti-authoritarianism. As much as people in the West complain about the heavy hand of government in our lives, it pales in comparison with the limits placed on citizens of less democratic or religiously curtailed nations.

 

[randomrogue]

The only affect they have is open communication, free speech, and organization. Thus why governments have tried to shut it down. Facebook in China is accessible through a proxy but it looks like the web did in 1995. Whether free speech is a western value is open for debate.

You can look beyond social media like this and think of it in terms of instant messengers too.

The biggest problem is the language barrier. Other cultures can't take on anything if they can't understand English. If they can understand English then odds are they have access to TV, Movies, etc and are already Westernized. You can probably extend this to German, French, and Spanish too.

 

[Zeze]

It's narrow-minded & ignorant to think other countries don't have their own social network PRIOR to Facebook.

Korea's had Cyworld before Zuck got accepted to Harvard. It is the #1 social network for their country. They have reconnected with their alums and childhood friends for many years.

Japan has their own social network as well, I forgot what it's called. It's so popular, FB has yet to penetrate their market.

 

[JS80]

It's narrow-minded & ignorant to think other countries don't have their own social network PRIOR to Facebook.

Korea's had Cyworld before Zuck got accepted to Harvard. It is the #1 social network for their country. They have reconnected with their alums and childhood friends for many years.

Japan has their own social network as well, I forgot what it's called. It's so popular, FB has yet to penetrate their market.

*WOOSH*
I see your krn pryd is blinding you from the point.

 

[Infohawk]

It's narrow-minded & ignorant to think other countries don't have their own social network PRIOR to Facebook.

Get over yourself. Where did OP say Americans had the first social networks? Even if what you say is true it's irrelevant to his question.

 

[rockchalk]

Thanks for the responses. I'll continue my research.

 

[rockchalk]

For example, when I was in Nigeria I noticed those who had facebook account were much more "americanized". Nigeria's primary language is English. As soon my name got around hundreds of them (yes literally hundreds) friended me on Facebook. What shocked me was that they liked products, artists, shows that were not even legitimately sold in Nigeria but were the same my friends liked.

Bootleg copies of 24 were super popular and jack bower (sp?) was almost a national hero haha.

The girls over there with facebook really reinvent themselves with American models in mind.

 

[cwjerome]

It's a rich topic. The information age has exploded and social media is a part of this game changing trend. For lack of a better term, globalization is the umbrella concept that so many of these powerful agents of change are operating under. Law, organization, integration, information exchange and democratization are redefining the international system and dramatically changing the character of nations and within.

Borders mean less than ever and the nature of citizenship seems to be expanding in a different direction. These changes are not just economic driven but the fact that people, ideas, and information move so freely through porous national boundaries, it's hard to imagine where this might lead. Social media is a strong amplifying aspect. This process of interconnectedness will only continue to grow, along with the backlash from China, Islamic leaders, etc, as they try to shield their own ideas and principles from the outside.

These are big picture western values. You can't stop the train, people will gravitate towards freedom and higher standards of living, and it will be a collection of evolving and assimilation of ideals and principles... what Western Civ does best.

 

[Zeze]

Get over yourself. Where did OP say Americans had the first social networks? Even if what you say is true it's irrelevant to his question.

Uh, what I say IS true. Why would I make it up? Cyworld started in 1999, FB = 2004. Wiki it.

Sorry if my OP seemed brash, but it is relevant to OP. He assumed that using social network and twitter encourages 'western' values as if social networking is exclusive to the west.

 

[Infohawk]

as if social networking is exclusive to the west.

Nothing he writes suggests he assumed that.

 

[Zeze]

Nothing he writes suggests he assumed that.

Then why would using social networks encourage western values?

 

[Infohawk]

Then why would using social networks encourage western values?

Well that is the question posed by the OP, isn't it? Doesn't necessarily have anything to do with who invented social networking. Those are just your own "narrow-minded" assumptions.

 

[Zeze]

Well that is the question posed by the OP, isn't it? Doesn't necessarily have anything to do with who invented social networking. Those are just your own "narrow-minded" assumptions.

Wouldn't such question come from an assumption?

If I wonder, "Do you think people that go to McD will become fat?" There is a basis for such impression for me to inquire further.

OP asked a question, and I answered it. Why would it encourage western values? Other countries have social networking too.

I wasn't focusing on who invented social networking first, but using that to emphasize that their native dominant and extensive social networking exists outside of FB & Twitter.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

Wouldn't such question come from an assumption?

If I wonder, "Do you think people that go to McD will become fat?" There is a basis for such impression for me to inquire further.

OP asked a question, and I answered it. Why would it encourage western values? Other countries have social networking too.

I wasn't focusing on who invented social networking first, but using that to emphasize that their native dominant and extensive social networking exists outside of FB & Twitter.

Your position is the same as if I asked if Dell's shift towards enterprise total solutions management set the stage for businesses to offload solutions management and you responded that its naive to say Dell did it when IBM made the PC before Dell.

You are deflecting a proposed affect (that modern social networking places a shift towards western trends), and trying to superimpose some assumption that social networks are inherently western. There being pre-cursors to Facebook in no way delimits the effects of it not only in the US but throughout the world.

In other words, you're completely missing the point just as JS-80 said.

 

[rockchalk]

It's good, I'm revising my question. First I can't tell if it has "encouraged" western values (poor conceptualization on my part) but I can ask how western values are portrayed on social networks in eastern countries. I'm with a group and we are changing it from western values to American products, values, and trends. Western values are too vague. We will randomly select 10 eastern countries and 100 people from every country. We know this is not proper sampling but it will give us a idea. The person selected must be a native and speak english.

 

[bfdd]

rockchalk, I like that. splitting America away from the Western World. We are quite different in the USA/CANADA/MEXICO than those in Western Europe.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

More communication is better. As an amateur cultural anthropologist, I think we're a long way from any kind of homogenization. Rather than encouraging American values and trends, I believe social networks are creating a separate and unique culture. American products are definitely being pushed because advertizing is what we do best after all.