Cultural Context of Social Media Use: How Do Iranians Adapt and Use Facebook?

Abstract

It has been discussed intensively that technology can shape social and in return is being shaped and adapted by its social context of use. Social media technologies have become pervasive in the recent years. It has been discussed in the literature that even very rigid technological artifacts are subject to modifications in different socio-cultural contexts of use. Social Networking Sites (SNS) have become pervasive in the recent years. It is important to understand how technologies such as SNS are being adapted in different cultural contexts. This study concerns adoption, use and adaptation of Facebook among Iranians and reports the preliminary findings of a qualitative study of Facebook use among Iranians. We observed that the use of SNS helps maintaining parallel social realities among Iranians. Although, the use of SNS always involves concerns about security threats from the state.