Date of Award

2008

Degree Type

Thesis

Department

Communication

First Advisor

Neuendorf, Kimberly

Subject Headings

MySpace.com, Intercultural communication, Online social network, Internet --Social aspects

Abstract

The goal of the current study was to compare users from two distinct cultures to examine the extent to which they communicate differently through MySpace comments and to see how such differences might relate to their cultural background and biological sex. For this purpose, Hofstede's theories of individualism/collectivism and masculinity/femininity and Ting-Toomey's face negotiation theory were used as frameworks. Content analysis was performed on 150 Hungarian and 150 American randomly selected MySpace comments. One-way ANOVAs and crosstabulations showed some significant differences and similarities between Hungarian and American MySpace comments. Real-life cultural differences and sex-linked differences were found to be reflected in the comments. Thus, this study found mixed evidence for the existence of a global "MySpace culture" that includes both global linguistic features and reflects upon elements from users' own traditional culture

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