Social Media Web in the USA is Different from the Rest of the World
Although the concept is incredibly popular, and gaining more and more followers every day, social media web activity differs drastically from one country to the next. How much it differs, however, is about more than just the obvious…
For starters, there is the difference in access to Internet. In many countries, owning a computer is merely a dream for most people. Having an Internet connection is in some places, not even an available option. Access to social media is limited to those fortunate individuals who possess mobile phones, or have access to a local Internet cafe – and in some regions even those are in short supply.
Secondly, there are cultural differences. In the USA it is fine for any woman to join a social network like Facebook. However, in some countries it’s considered improper. And it gets worse – in some communities women are not even allowed to have an education, never mind access to Internet…
As such it would be useless for an advertiser using social media advertising to try and reach these people.
Additionally, culture would also dictate the type and amount of information shared. While people living in western countries tend to be open minded on the whole, there are some communities where certain things are not usually talked about. As such, the whole conversation tends to revolve around different topics, and the amount of information shared tends to be less.
Of course there are also many countries where the general level of education is a lot lower than in the USA – and the lack of education will in turn mean that the interaction on the Internet is likely to be less sophisticated in general, as well as limited to a smaller percentage of the population.
There is of course also the language barrier. Folks who can’t speak English are usually limited to what they can understand on the Internet (or to websites that have translation options available). However, the language barrier often becomes so noticeable that making friends in other countries is simply not an option. On the other hand, people in English speaking countries can connect with people from all over the world with folks who are able to communicate with them.
Finally, there are some counties where the access to social media is restricted. A typical example would be the last election in Iran, where opposition groups were using the Internet, and more specifically Twitter, to broadcast information to the rest of the world.
The government tried to shut it down in order to prevent bad publicity from leaking out. Fortunately, resourceful people found other ways to connect to Twitter via websites located in other countries – and instead used Twitter as a political and journalistic communications tool. Drastically different than Twitter being used in the USA, wouldn’t you agree?
