Social capital and self-presentation on social networking sites: a comparative study of Chinese and American young generations

Abstract

In recent years, using social networking sites (SNSs hereafter), such as QQ, Xiaonei.com, and Kaixin001.com, has become a popular activity among Chinese Internet users. Yet little is known about whether Chinese users' activities in this emerging online social venue differ from Westerners', reflecting their fundamental cultural orientations such as individualism and collectivism. This study focuses on potential similarities and differences between Chinese and American young generations in the nature of social relationships and self-presentation strategies that they develop and employ on SNSs. A greater level of bonding social capital in SNSs was observed among American young users than their Chinese counterparts, and no significant difference in bridging social capital between the two groups of SNS users was found. Results also revealed that Chinese and American college-aged young generations employed different self-presentation strategies in SNSs. Implications and directions for future research are discussed.