A comparison of interactions on Facebook brand pages between global brands and publics in individualistic and collectivistic countries.

摘要

The present study presents a comparative analysis of how Facebook was used to build and maintain relationships between global brands and their publics in individualistic and collectivistic cultures. Mixed methods --- a quantitative content analysis and an online survey --- were used. A total of 5,753 wall posts on the six global brands' Facebook brand pages available in five selected countries were analyzed. The U.S. represented individualistic cultures, while four Southeast Asian countries represented collectivistic cultures.;Overall, the study found that differences in cultures play an important role in the interactions on Facebook between the global brands and their publics. The global brands used Facebook to build and maintain relationships with their publics in the U.S., but used it as an integrated tool to promote products and stay in touch with their publics in Southeast Asian countries. The publics in individualistic and collectivistic cultures alike were likely to use Facebook to maintain relationships with the global brands. The study also found that two dialogic communication features, a communication loop and an incentive, had an impact on the volumes of responding comments, especially in the individualistic country. A greater number of the brand community characteristics were found on Facebook brand pages in the U.S. than those in the Southeast Asian countries.;The findings in regards to brand personality suggested that the global brands did not use heavily Facebook to portray brand personality. Acknowledging the limited survey sample size, the study found that the congruency between brand personality portrayal and brand personality perceptions seemed to be associated with the presence of brand community on Facebook brand pages.