Permalink : http://hdl.handle.net/2115/48860

Previous studies have shown clear cultural differences in how Japanese and American social network site (SNS) users interract with differing SNS platforms (see Barker and Ota, 2011; Fogg and Iizawa, 2008; Takahashi, 2010). In this study of 131 Japanese SNS users who use both Facebook and Mixi, self-disclosure, numbers of contacts, in-group numbers, and levels of perceived commitment on Mixi and Facebook were measured. The study found that such users showed a lower level of self-disclosure, connected with fewer people and had fewer categories of contacts, and felt a higher degree of commitment on Mixi than on Facebook. It is suggested that these differences stem from differing responses to percieved relational mobility on each platform; Mixi being a socioecological environment which reflects low-relationally mobile Japanese society, and Facebook being a socioecological environment which reflects high relationally mobile North American social environments. (141/150)