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Contents Theories of Social Media and Culture 3 Introduction 3 Theories and Concepts 3 i. Motivations of social media for consumers 3 ii. Motivations of social media for managers 4 Theories of Social Media and Culture 4 Social Media in Singapore 7 Critical Evaluation of Cultural Theories and Concepts of Social Media in Singapore 8 Implications 10 Areas of Further Research 10 Conclusion 11 References 12

While different cultures across the globe value their individual norms, beliefs, and traditions that portray their uniqueness, the rise of social media has linked people all over the world regardless of their inherent demographic differences and geographical boundaries. The Social media has greatly led to the convergence of globalization and the compression of space and time, and as such the world has been shrunk so that it has become a smaller interactive field (Goodrich and de Mooij, 2016). Regardless of the size of a business, social media is undoubtedly a critical part of a business, particularly in enhancement of business marketing strategy. Different social media platforms greatly help a business in connecting with the consumers, increasing brand awareness, as well as boosting the sales and leads of the business. Social media has been able to boost the visibility of businesses among potential consumers at significantly low costs. Social media is also important in encouraging engagement between consumers and the company through different media posts. Additionally, business have managed to obtain support from social media because it has successfully broken down the communication barriers with the customers.

The availability of social media sites has increased the reach for businesses to the target customers, with the more effective communication channels. There are numerous motivations for the consumer behavior of joining social media. In this case, consumers are able to communicate freely to business, which implies that social media offers the consumers with an opportunity of voicing their opinions regarding the products or services provided by a company (Heinonen, 2011). In addition, consumers are attracted to media sites to obtain more information about a company. For instance, before a customer makes a purchase, they may go into a social media network and collect information regarding how other consumers feel about the company and its products. High availability of information regarding a product increased the chances of the consumer in making buying decisions (Berthon, et al., 2012).

The use of social media has greatly helped managers off business in terms of how they communicate to different stakeholder in the business such as employees and customers. For instance, social media platforms have provided instant messaging between the manager and employees regarding critical business endeavors (Kellner, 2011). In addition, social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter have been largely utilized by business managers to communicate regarding new brands and developments in existing brands, which promotes brand awareness among the consumers (Kellner, 2011). Managers have also utilized social media ads and posts as a way of driving traffic to the websites for the companies. In participating in different social chats, managers are able to increase the visibility of the business, showcasing their expertise, and getting attention from new individuals and potential customers. As such, social media use by managers greatly boost sales for businesses, and attribute that has the potential of further growth considering the increased use of social media.

One critical social media theory is the Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT), which seeks to describe the way humans are actively engaged in seeking out particular media content to be utilized in specific intentional goals and purposes (Peters et al., 2013). This theory develops an active, as opposed to passive, audience, which is capable of consciously examining and evaluating the media as a way of accomplishing some specific results. This theory is critical in the manner in which it embodies the functional communication shift, from the examination of what humans can do with the media, as opposed to what the media can do to people (Peters et al., 2013).

The Uses and Gratifications Theory developed from the needs and motivation theory, which asserts that humans act on consistent with their specific hierarchy of needs and motivations (Bernoff and Li, 2010). Researchers in the communications field have largely agreed with the notion and sought to perform an examination of the typologies of the needs related to the use of media by different people from different cultural backgrounds. Based on this, the UGT establishes a framework that provides a clear understanding of how and when a particular user of media becomes more or less involved in media use, and explains the impact of the decreased or increased involvement (Peters et al., 2013). The theory (UGT) performs under numerous assumptions. These include: the media users are goal-oriented and active in their media use, media is utilized for gratification purposes, media use competes with other ways of satisfaction of human needs, individuals clearly understand their motives and interests in media use, and that the audience is capable of making informed judgments on the value of the content manifested in the media (Bernoff and Li, 2010).

The acquired-needs theory is a theory of culture that asserts that the particular needs of an individual acquired overtime are greatly influenced by the life experiences of the individual. The acquired needs are classified into three classes: power, affiliation, and achievement (Bernoff and Li, 2010). The needs for power of an individuals can either be institutional or personal. In the cultural setting, the individuals who desire to obtain power seek to direct others. However, the power need is largely considered to be undesirable in the society. Individuals who seek out for institutions power aim at organizing other people’s efforts as a way of furthering the social goals (Heinonen, 2011). High need for social power is regarded as more effective than the need for individual power.

The high need for affiliation represents the desire of establishing harmonious relationships among social beings. Individuals with high need for affiliation usually adhere to the norms of their group. These individuals have a high preference of working in a manner that provides significant interactions among individuals (Peters et al., 2013). On the other hand, the high need for achievement aim at realizing excellence, thus avoiding both high-risk and low-risk situations. The individuals with the need for high achievement portray a greater preference towards working that has a moderate success possibility. High achievers require constant feedback as a way of effectively monitoring how their achievements are progressing, and they largely prefer working with other high achievers of alone (Peters et al., 2013).

The Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) describe the way new ideas and advancements have been transferred within the society (Ngai, Tao and Moon, 2015). Based on this theory, humans have adopted the social media behavior, which can be explained through five perceived characteristics, which are complexity, observability, trialability, compatibility, and relative advantage (Ngai, Tao and Moon, 2015). As such, the social networking across the globe has been enhanced through communication and information technology, which is largely depended on continuous participation of the users. The diffusion of social media has also influenced the individual cultures, and has significantly promoted the understanding and interconnectedness between consumers and companies.

As noted earlier, Singapore is composed of a multicultural society that has embraced cultural and racial diversity. The country is known for its unique identity that acknowledges different traditions, but embraces the change associated with the traditions. Currently, Singapore is considered to be a hub that hosts many international brands (Kellner, 2011). Notably, Singapore has been on the forefront of embracing both economic and technological advances, and has consistently aligned itself with the current regional and global news, trends, and culture (Kellner, 2011). The recent increase in the use of social media across the globe has tremendously influenced and reshaped the manner in which the citizens of Singapore collaborate, work, and consume information, particularly within the sectors such as communications and marketing (Mathews et al., 2016).

Social media giants such as Facebook and WhatsApp have remained to be commonly utilized social media platforms in Singapore, and they have greatly helped consumers and businesses regarding how they access and sell products (Heinonen, 2011). Statistics indicate that the country has over 2.4 million users every day. Due this attribute, consumers and businesses in the country have utilized social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, which has proved to be critical in improving company brands in the saturated and competitive marketplace (Trainor et al., 2014). Because the country embraces change and is always on the forefront of encouraging use of technologies, businesses have greatly embraced diversification in the outreach in social media platforms, with Instagram, LinkedIn, as well as other mobile messaging application on the rise (Rialp-Criado and Rialp-Criado, 2018). The country is expected to witness more brands engaging in use of mobile messaging platforms as a way of connecting with customers beyond the use of common platforms such as Twitter and Facebook.

Based on the discussed theories of social media and culture, it is clear that social media communities are currently benefiting from decline in costs that were associated with traditional brand communities. The Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT) has been applicable in Singapore as it has influenced the behavior of consumers and businesses in terms of obtaining information that makes them actively engaged in seeking out particular media that is consistent with their goals and purposes. In this regard, it is easier for businesses to make connections with their customers without bothering about the geography. Through this manner, different cultures have been able to interact, where strangers are able to meet and engage in constructive economic, social, and cultural interactions (Kellner, 2011). This has been a great motivation for consumers to use social media.

The acquired needs theory is a theory of culture that asserts that the particular needs of an individual acquired overtime are greatly influenced by the life experiences of the individual. The needs and wants of Singaporeans are dramatically changing with the general dynamism experienced in the world. With technological advancements, different companies have closed down physical offices and have moved to online stores, which requires consumers to use online platforms such as social media to access information and make purchase of the products or services needed (Rialp-Criado and Rialp-Criado, 2018). This is an indicated that the consumers in Singapore are left with no choice but move with the time and join online platforms and social media so that they can effectively fulfil their various needs. This attribute makes the acquired needs a critical theory that explains the behavior of Singaporean consumers.

The Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) is also relevant in Singapore, as both businesses and consumers in the country have tremendously embraced the new ideas and advancements are associated with the recent technological advancements, particularly in communication media (Ngai, Tao and Moon, 2015). With more than 60 percent of the Singaporean citizens using social media, it is clear that the diffusion of innovation from other countries such as United States has greatly impacts the Singaporean citizens (Okazaki and Taylor, 2013) With more people using social media, businesses have taken that advantage to communicate with their consumers regarding their products and services. This has been advantageous as the interconnectedness between customers and business has been largely enhanced. In addition, the diffusion of innovation that has resulted in social media in Singapore has contributed to decrease in cultural gap because consumers have been able to interact with other from diverse cultural backgrounds as they share information about various products (Heinonen, 2011).

As noted earlier, social media has been an integral part of Singaporeans because it has promoted interdependence and interconnectedness of the culturally diverse nation. In this regard, social media has been utilized as a social interaction tool whereby people have communicated and engaged with information that has been transferred across the Internet (Heinonen, 2011). The communication that has been endeavored through different online contexts has significantly promoted interactive dialogues, which have created an understanding of numerous perspectives. As such, different individuals, businesses, and companies have been granted the opportunity of expressing their opinions and product offerings to the other individuals and the general public (Heinonen, 2011). In addition, social media platforms have helped individuals and companies to engage in constructive dialogue and conversations that have promoted the wellbeing of the society.

The social networking sites in Singapore have allowed individuals and businesses to develop profiles, which facilitate sharing connections and interaction with others in the systems. Based on this attribute, the Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Singapore has greatly benefited as they are able to increase their customer base through spreading awareness to potential consumers through social platforms that have attracted massive users in Singapore (Okazaki and Taylor, 2013). In this regard, the social media is bound to greatly promote exchange of messages between individuals and SMEs, not only in the country, but elsewhere (Hoffman and Novak, 2012). As such, SMEs will engage in an intercultural dialogue that will critically identify the specific tastes and preferences of the consumers based on their cultural orientations (Samuel Craig and Douglas, 2006). With increase in social media, the businesses in Singapore will gain a great competitive advantage owing to the fact the Singapore hosts many social media users. As a result, the businesses will experience increased productivity, revenue, and profitability (Ngai, Tao and Moon, 2015). In addition, the businesses will utilize the social media to advertise their products and brands at very low costs, thus boosting their sustainability amid increased competition in the globalized market (Okazaki and Taylor, 2013).

From the analysis of this paper, it is evident that social media has played an integral role in influencing consumer behaviors and those of businesses in equal measures. Businesses have strived to undertake marketing through social media, while consumers obtain information regarding products and services offered by companies through the sites. However, much of the existing research has focused role of social media on strategic marketing. Future research in the field needs to focus on the relationship between use of social media and intercultural adaptation. There is also need to perform research on how different theories of social media and culture influence the political climate in Singapore.

It is recommended that Singapore needs more tremendous embracement of technological advancements of social media use and cultural diversity. As such, many individuals and businesses in the country will greatly use social media in business endeavors, with customers able to gain awareness regarding the product offering of companies and SMEs.

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