Social Media Preferences, Interrelations Between the Social Media Characteristics and Culture: A View of Arab Nations

Abstract

This article is a pioneering theoretical work as an approach from the perspective of combination of social media characteristics and wisdom of crowds. The aim of this article is to conceptualize the social media channels in terms of their characteristics and to discuss the correlation between social media choices and culture. This paper contributes to social media marketing theory by developing a conceptual approach that explains and offers implications pertaining to the relationship between different social media channels in the age of social media. To do this, the relevant literature has been thoroughly reviewed, and exploratory research method has been used. The study also aims to visualize the effect of cultural differences as aligned with the study of Edward Hall (1967) and Gert Hoftstede (1984). Cultural factors exert a broad and deep influence on social media choices. Arab countries are categorized as high-context culture according to Hall's dimensions. The social media reports, Arab Social Media, conducted by Dubai School of Government of the years from 2013, 2013 and 2017 were analyzed. The limited availability of the literature done on the region has limited the scope and analysis of the research. The paper concludes that social media has certain characteristics that interrelate with each other and culture has a moderation effect on the choices.