THE IMPACT OF NEW MEDIA AND INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION IN
A GLOBAL CONTEXT
Irvan Helnord
Week 1
Professor Helman
June, 2024
Introduction
The history of human communication began with the oral tradition. Over the course of
history, message dissemination evolved from oral tradition, print, wired electronics, wireless
electronics to digital communication. The major change came with the introduction of
computers and the internet in the early 1990s. Since then, drastic changes in communication
media have affected human perception of media, use of time and space, reach and control of
media. In the current age of digital communication, time has been compressed by reducing
the distance between different points in space, and the sense of space has caused people to
feel that local, national, and global spaces are becoming obsolete (Harvey, 1989). In
addition, the reach of today's digital media extends to everyone, not just a limited audience.
This is important because without the constraints of time and space, controlling the
production of messages and their dissemination is no longer a privilege that only belongs to
the state and government, but instead, is equally owned by all individuals.
All these innovations in the field of digital media are called new media, which have
changed and continue to change the way we think, act and live. For example, digitization as a
hybridization of print and electronic media makes all devices switch from analog to digital
systems. According to Chen, the impact of digital or new media on human society is shown
in aspects of cognition, social effects, and new forms of aesthetics (Chen, 2007).
In the cognitive aspect, new media is required to innovate to create content that
directly affects the way people use media. On the social aspect, the most obvious impact of
using new media is the demassification effect which shows that traditional media designs for
large, homogeneous audiences are disappearing and being replaced by specific messages
with individual appeal, allowing audiences to access and create the messages they want.
(Olson & Pollard, 2004). Visually, new media gave birth to A new digital aesthetic view that
refers to interactivity, manipulation, specific purposes of content in media, the intentional
creation of virtual experiences, and as a means to generate new content (Chen, 2007).
New media is a major force accelerating the trend of globalization in human society.
The trend of globalization has led to transformations in almost all aspects of human society.
In social and cultural aspects, globalization has changed the perception of community,
redefined the meaning of cultural identity and civil society, and demanded new ways of
intercultural interaction (Chen, 2012). Economically, global competition has been greatly
intensified. For the success of a global business, companies are required not only to
understand local markets to meet the needs of global clients, but also to seek global open
markets and promote effective management in global business transactions (Gupta &
Govindarajan, 2007). In short, due to the pressure from new media, global trends create new
social networks and diverse activities, changing politics, culture, economy.
From a scholarly perspective, traditional studies rarely well connect or integrate the
two concepts of "media" and "globalization" (Rantanen, 2006). The three established
academic fields within this concept of study include communication studies, media and
cultural studies, and globalization studies. Communication studies began after World War II
and became an academic field in the 1950s in the United States. Early studies focused on
international communication, oral communication and continued on the newly developed
intercultural communication. Communication studies in academia tended to ignore the
relationship between people and media, the way people use media in different cultural
contexts, and how it is closely related to the globalization of human society. The field of
media and cultural studies emerged in the 1970s in the United Kingdom on the basis of
rejecting the dominance of communication studies in the United States, which was more
oriented towards the empirical paradigm. However, most British media studies focuses on
the role that media institutions play in the process of globalization. Cultural studies
originated in the Frankfurt School in Germany, and the field emerged out of concerns about
the lack of studies on the impact of media on society. The problems that exist within media
studies and cultural studies are similar to those that arise between international
communication studies and intercultural communication. As Servaes points out, cultural
studies in Europe and in the United States are primarily concerned with cultural issues rather
than media issues (Servaes, 2020).
The study of globalization began in the early 1990s, when globalization trends
significantly increased the impact on human society. However, although experts from
various disciplines were involved in the study of globalization and most agreed that without
media and communication, globalization would not have emerged as something great.
Driven by the transformation of human society, the role of media and communication in
theorizing the concept of globalization remains vague and lacks specificity. According to
Rantanen, the contribution of scholars from the field of media and communication to theories
of globalization is far less than scholars from other disciplines such as anthropology and
sociology. The purpose of this article is to integrate these concepts through an examination
of the relationship between new media and intercultural communication (Rantanen, 2006).
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
Methods
The method used in this paper is a literature study. Literature study is a way to solve
problems by tracing the sources of writings that have been made before. In other words, the
term literature study is very familiar as a literature study. In a study, a researcher must have
broad insights related to the object to be studied. If not, it is certain that in a large
presentation the research will fail. The literature study contains a description of things that
are relevant to the related theme, in this case a literature study on the impact of new media
on intercultural communication in a global context.
New Media and Globalization
The rapid development of new media has become a major force in accelerating the
globalization trend of human society over the past few decades. With its distinctive and
unique features, new media has brought human and societal interactions to a highly
interconnected and complex level. Through this convergence, the rise of new media and
globalization has caused transformations to occur in almost all aspects of human society.
New media are considered "new" not merely because of the successful integration of
traditional forms of interpersonal and mass media, but because of the new functions that
allow individuals to equally exercise control of interpersonal media messages (Crosbie,
2002). The new media functionally allows people to interact with several people
simultaneously with the ability to deliver "individualized" messages in the process of
interaction.
New media has five distinctive characteristics, including digitality, convergence,
interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality (Chen, 2012). First, digitalization is the most
prominent feature of new media. New media or digital media makes media text convert data
from analog into digital form, which allows all kinds of mathematical operations. New
media allows any amount of information to be retrieved manipulated, and stored in a very
limited space.
Second, new media unifies the form and function of media information through
electronic communication, and electronic computing. The convergence power of new media
can be easily demonstrated by the emergence of the internet in computer information
technology and broadband communication networks. This leads to industry convergence
demonstrated by the continuous mergers of large and converging media companies.
Products and services are evidenced by the successful connection and combination of media
materials, products and services within the media industry.
Third, the interactive function of new media gives users great freedom in reproducing
the content and form of information during interaction. In addition, the interactivity of new
media makes interaction among different networks and information retrieval through
different operational systems more convenient. The freedom to control information makes
new media have great power in the process of human communication.
Fourth, the hypertextuality of new media gives rise to a global network center.
Information can move freely and interconnect spontaneously. This global network
phenomenon has begun to rebuild a new life experience for mankind which in turn will lead
to the transformation of economic activities, cultural patterns, interaction styles, and other
aspects of human society. (Castells, 2000). Finally, the virtual world shaped by new media
allows people to generate virtual experiences and realities. The invisible cyberspace not only
induces a gap between reality and morality, but affects the free alternation of one's gender,
personality, appearance and occupation. The formation of virtual communities that cross all
boundaries of human society will inevitably challenge the way we perceive reality and
traditionally define identity (Jones, 1995).
With these distinct features, new media is pushing the trend of globalization to the
highest level in human history. Globalization is a social process in which the constraints of
geography, social and cultural settings are lost. Globalization involves the expansion,
stretching, intensification, and acceleration of social activities at both objective/material and
subjective/human levels of consciousness, or different levels of human society, including the
entire world, specific nations, specific industries or organizations, and individuals.
The strong impact of globalization has increased with the emergence of new media.
First, globalization is a dynamic, dialectical process caused by the push and pull of new
media attraction between the two forces of cultural identity and cultural diversity, or
between localization and universalization. Second, globalization is universal and pervasive.
It moves like air penetrating into every aspect of human society and influencing the way we
live, think and behave. Third, globalization is holistically interconnected. Globalization
builds a large matrix, and all components are interconnected by networks. Fourth,
globalization is a cultural hybridization that enables the transmission of culture through new
media that takes place very quickly by absorbing and dissolving human boundaries. Finally,
globalization increases the power of individuals in the new media society into a plural
world.
The impact of the integration of new media and globalization can be summarized into
five effects, namely, a shrinking world, compression of time and space, close interaction in
various aspects of society, global connectivity, and acceleration of local and global
competition/cooperation (Chen & Starosta, 2000). In other words, the boundaries of human
society in terms of space, time, scope, structure, geography, function, profession, values, and
beliefs are rapidly changing into new patterns.
Although the interconnection between new media and globalization is obvious, there
are specific connections between the five distinctive characteristics of new media: digitality,
convergence, interactivity, hypertextuality, and virtuality). These are holistically strongly
interconnected, between cultural and individual hybridization, and are interesting research
topics. This paper focuses on a discussion of the relationship between new media and
intercultural communication.
Results And Discussion
The Impact of New Media on Intercultural Communication
The distinctive features of new media have brought human society to an interconnected and
complex level. But at the same time, it challenges the very existence of traditional human
communication. New media Not only does it affect the form and content of
information/messages, but it affects the way people understand each other in the process of
human communication, especially for those from different cultural or ethnic groups.
Before the advent of new media, according to Bagdasaryan, tradition and innovation in
human societies coexisted dynamically, but the speed and impact of new media resulted in
the inability of traditional values to keep pace with the new cultural values generated by new
media (Bagdasaryn, 2011). This cultural gap has led to difficulties in understanding or
communication between generations and among people within the same culture.
New media also evolve extrinsically, creating communication gaps between different
cultural and ethnic groups. The fragmented nature of new media has changed traditional
cultural grammars, cultural themes, or cultural maps to new patterns, resulting in the loss of
traditional cultural logic. The rearrangement or restructuring of cultural patterns, or
worldviews, demands that cultural members adjust their communication behavior within
their own communities and to learn new ways of interaction with people from different
cultures. New media foster a new culture in human society. The level of ambiguity and
uncertainty has been changed and has reached its highest point, especially in the process of
intercultural communication. This poses a great challenge to the practical needs of
interaction in daily life and research in the scientific community. Currently, many experts
are engaged in research that examines the relationship between new media and intercultural
communication (Schroeder, 2000).
After examining the existing literature, we find that the topic areas that appear in this
paper cover three categories: (1) the impact of national/ethnic culture on the development of
new media, (2) the impact of new media on social culture/identity, and (3) the impact of new
media (especially social media) on various aspects of social media intercultural interactions
(e.g., intercultural relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict).
Culture and New Media
Culture as a communication context can determine media use (Chen & Starosta, 2000).
Chen found that three cultural factors, namely thinking patterns, expression styles, and
cultural context influence how people behave in electronic media. The three factors are
manifestations of cultural values (Chen & Starosta, 2000). Based on the differences between
low context culture and high context culture categorized by Hall (Hall, 1976). Chung and
Chen (Chen, 2007) proposed the possibility of differences in communication characteristics
in the electronic interaction process, assuming that cultural values will affect the social
networking process in new media (Vasslou, Joinson, & Coourvoisier, 2010; Veltri &
Elgarah, 2009; Vinuales, 2011). The dimensions of low-context culture and high-context
culture, individualism and collectivism of Hall's (Hall, 1976) and Hofstede's (Hofstede,
2001) are the two most commonly used models in the study of the relationship between
culture and media. For example, Kim, Sohn and Choi's study found that cultural value
orientation influences users' attitudes when using new media. The study showed motives for
using social media in students in a high-context, collectivist culture, such as Korea.
However, more emphasis was placed on gaining social support from existing social
relationships (Chen, 2010).
Motives in low context, individualistic cultures, such as American college students,
tend to be more interested in seeking entertainment than social relationships. In addition,
Rosen, Stefanone, and Lackaff (Stefanone et al., 2011) also found that compared to high-
context, collective cultures in the process of new media interaction, people in low-context,
individualistic cultures tend to emphasize individual achievement and self-promotion for the
sake of social interaction expanding the network of social relationships, although the
orientation may involve privacy within the network.
New Media and Cultural Identity
The convergence of new media and globalization brings six new experiences to human
beings, including new textual experiences, new ways of representing the world, new
relationships between users and new media technologies, new concepts of the relationship of
the biological body to media technologies and patterns The traditional cultures indicated by
Belay include sociological identity, occupational identity, geobased identity, national
identity, cultural identity, and ethnic identity (Belay, 1996).
In a nutshell, new media continues to build new types of communities without time
and space limits, which make cultural identities are more dynamic, fluid, and relativized, and
impose harsh challenges to the autonomy and stability of cultural identities (Tenenboim-
Weinblatt, 2010). The impact of new media on cultural identity has been one of the issues
that intercultural communication scholars are most concerned about.
New Media and Intercultural Interaction
The impact of new media on various aspects of intercultural interaction is obvious and of
interest to scholars of intercultural communication. This section discusses the influence of
new media on three common aspects of intercultural interaction in a global context, namely
intercultural relations, intercultural adaptation and intercultural conflict.
Intercultural Relationships
New media, especially social media such as Facebook, blogs, YouTube and Twitter have
enabled people from every corner of the world to represent themselves in a certain way and
stay connected in cyberspace. The flexibility of information presented and shared on new
media directly affects, positively and negatively, the development of intercultural
relationships in virtual communities through the creation of networks of personal
connections. (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Moreover, in foreign language and study abroad
contexts, the use of blogs has not only shown positive effects on the development of
intercultural relationships, but also increased the level of intercultural communication
competence of participants (Elola & Oskoz, 2008).
In addition to intercultural relationships on a personal level, social media also helps
build international business relationships (Jackson, 2011). However, new media can produce
negative impacts on intercultural communication. Research found that revealing too much
personal information on blogs, especially negative information about friends, employers and
others tends to harm or cause problems in building intraculturally and interculturally
constructive human relationships (Qian & Scott, 2007).
According to McEwan and Sobre-Denton computer-mediated communication can
promote and develop virtual cosmopolitanism and a virtual third culture. The authors point
out that through the construction of third cultural spaces, new hybrid cultures are created as
people interact from different cultures, can gather cultural and social information, build
online communities, and form intercultural relationships (McEwan & Sobre-Denton, 2011).
Intercultural Adaptation
New media allows individuals around the world to exchange messages with the aim of
understanding people from different cultures. It has become popular for visitors or migrants
to use new media to communicate with friends, classmates, and relatives or family members
from home and host countries in the process of learning or daily life. This is as shown by
Chen in his research. The longer immigrants stay in the host country, the more they
communicate with host country citizens using new media, and the frequency of surfing to
home country websites decreases (Chen, 2010).
Chen also found that the use of new media has a significant impact on immigrants'
intercultural adaptation process. In other words, social interactions conducted through new
media by immigrants proved to be an important element that can determine whether they can
successfully adjust to the host country. International students' use of social media has an
effect on their intercultural adaptation process. The research found social media provides an
environment for international students to connect with people in their home and host
countries, which in turn helps them strengthen personal relationships and foster a sense of
cultural belonging to the host culture. The use of new media clearly helps international
students overcome cultural barriers in the intercultural adaptation process (Chen, 2010).
The study also found the effect of culture shock is that tourists tend to rely more on
social media in the early stages of arriving in the destination country to stay connected with
people in the home country to gain a sense of comfort in the new environment. Furthermore,
Croucher proposed a theoretical model through the integration of cultivation theory and
ethnic group vitality to illustrate the relationship between social networks and cultural
adaptation. Croucher succeeded in generating two propositions: (1) During cultural
adaptation, the use of social networking sites affects immigrants' interaction with the
dominant culture (2) During cultural adaptation, the use of social networking sites will affect
communication within immigrant groups" (Croucher, 2011).
The propositions provide great potential for future research in investigating the impact
of social media on immigrants' adaptation processes in the host culture. These may include
frequency of interaction with the dominant culture, use of dominant media and ethnicity,
perceptions of the dominant culture, familiarity with the dominant language or cultural
norms, identification with the dominant culture or ethnicity, involvement in the dominant
political system, and motivation for acculturation.
Intercultural Conflict
New media provide people and governments with powerful tools to build their own image.
Such tools aim to redefine the meaning of messages, set the media agenda, or frame news or
messages. However, cultural differences result in different ways of media representation at
the individual or government level. Due to the underlying order, the perspectives and
practical limitations of the media in any society are based on their cultural value orientation.
Different forms of media representation tend to reflect intercultural communication
asymmetries and lead to problems of intercultural confrontation or conflict at the
interpersonal, group and national levels (Hotier, 2011).
Media coverage of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and Google's withdrawal from China
are two good examples of illustrating intercultural conflict in a media context. Western
media has long portrayed China as authoritarian, backward, irrational, and mysterious.
China is commonly criticized by Western media for human rights abuses, political
corruption, social instability, and environmental pollution. To build a positive national
image, the Chinese government carefully and tactically used state-owned media to set up
three agendas for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, namely, the Green Olympics, the Humanistic
Olympics, and the Scientific Olympics. Most western media tended to be biased in reporting
the success of the Beijing Olympics.
Western media outlets such as the New York Times and Washington Post placed much
emphasis on coverage of the protests during the Beijing Olympics by criticizing the Chinese
government for failing to fulfill its promise to ease restrictions on free speech during the
Olympics. As Murray argues, western media coverage of the protest controversy is
embedded in western beliefs about freedom of expression, human rights, individual equality,
and social justice, which differ from Chinese cultural values of harmony, face-saving, group
interests, and social order. Coverage based on different cultural values between Chinese
media and western media made confrontation inevitable (Murray, 2011).
Regarding the case of Google's withdrawal from China, after a news framing analysis
between China Daily and Wall Street Journal, Kuang (2011) found the dominating themes in
China Daily were criticism of Google and the US government, Google's tactics to avoid
censorship, and Google's loss and failure. While recurring themes in the Wall Street Journal
report were about China's violation of human rights/government censorship, business-
government relations, and international relations (Kuang, 2011). Findings Others point out
that news agencies often reflect the agendas, interests, and values of their countries (Bennett,
1990) which in turn trigger intercultural conflicts or confrontations between countries.
Conclusion
This article examines the relationship between new media and intercultural communication in
a global context. With a focus on intercultural interaction, this paper explains the impact of
cultural values on new media, the impact of new media on cultural identity, and the impact
of new media on three aspects of intercultural interaction. The three aspects are intercultural
relations, intercultural dialog, and intercultural conflict. Research on the theme of
intercultural communication and globalization can be linked to the themes of cultural values
on new media, new media and cultural identity, and new media on intercultural interaction.
Related themes include the formation of new cultural values, the transformation of old
cultural values in the new media era, and the impact of cultural identity on the use of new
media. Further research is needed on cultural variations in the use of new media for
communication, the impact of new media on intercultural dialog, and the potential use of
new media to resolve intercultural conflicts.
