Dr. Azza Abdel-Azim Mohamed Ahmed
Associate Professor of Mass Communication
Abu Dhabi University
Dr Miguel Á. Bernal-Merino
Author, Lecturer, Consultant
Univerity of Roehampton, UK
Werner Kunz
Associate Professor of Marketing
University of Massachusetts Boston
Werner Kunz
Understanding Online Community Building Globally: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Activities, Benefits and Relationship between East and West.
Modern online communities include people around the world, and community platforms are increasingly important for global businesses’ marketing strategies. Although online communities are a global phenomenon, most empirical research has been conducted in the West, which is significantly and culturally distinct from other important regions. This study analyzes the link of various online activities to community aspects to consider potential cross-cultural differences. A proposed taxonomy details online community activities, and a proposed framework of online community behavior is based on functional and hedonic theory. The empirical test uses data from online communities in the United States and China and reveals both differences and similarities in the online behaviors exhibited. For example, Chinese participants are driven by rational-functional routes to express loyalty to the community. Furthermore, whereas entertainment activities appear as mainly hedonic opportunities in the United States, Chinese participants also derive rational benefits from entertainment applications. These results can help global companies prioritize their online community activities for various countries.
Dr Miguel Á. Bernal-Merino
Towards the Glocalization of Entertainment Media
After decades of enjoying audiovisual entertainment through cinema, television and video games, we see a certain degree of convergence in the strategies that different media industries employ to maximise the success of their products abroad. In this session, we will explore through international case-studies from cinema, TV and video games some of the most recognisable media ideas, characters, brands, and debate about their relevance for the global branding of consumer products in the near future.
Dr. Azza A. Ahmed
Online self-disclosure among Arab Users of Social Networking Sites in United Arab Emirates.
The study investigates how Arabs self-disclose themselves through social networking sites. Attitude toward online self-disclosure, offline social support, the intensity of SNS usage are examined. It applied qualitative and quantitative methodologies. Total of (313) Arab residents of United Arab Emirates formed the sample of the survey. A constructed in-depth interviews were conducted with (69) of Arabs residents in UAE.
The findings indicated a positive significant correlation between online self-disclosures and diversity of SNSs audience while intensity of SNS usage does not correlate to online self-disclosure. Also, the more people have emotional and informational offline support, the more they are likely to be “honest” in their online self-disclosure. The females were higher in social companionship, emotional and informational offline social support than males; while males are more likely to disclose themselves online than females. In-depth interviews showed that SNSs’ users wisely govern the amount of information they post on SNSs and to whom they make it available. Males practice ‘parental authority’ on females to protect them from possible dangers of online self-disclosure.
