Cultural differences in social media: Trust and authority

Abstract

Sociologists and psychologists study how humans evaluate trust and reputation of people, documents, institutions, etc. in the real-world. Their studies of interactions between people from different cultures have contributed to the appreciation of diverse viewpoints. While the sudden emergence and proliferation of the internet has altered the landscape of relationships and social interactions, there has not been sufficient time to revisit and study cultural and demographic differences in perceptions of trust and reputation in the cyberspace domain on a grand scale. Studies that have been conducted to-date have been limited in scope with respect to number of countries, types of behavior, and size of data sets. This chapter reviews studies on cultural differences in behavior in cyberspace, with particular attention to the concepts of expertise, quality, and trust. It discusses applications that can benefit from these studies, such as: targeted marketing, crowd sourcing applications, and enhancement of security systems. It concludes with a discussion on open data and how Wikipedia data provides an opportunity to examine behavioral differences in different communities.