Cultural Differences & Cultural Diversity in International Business

This is not a post about which Social Media network is more popular in which country. No, rather than that, it's an attempt to better understand how Social Media in different cultures works. And why. Understanding why Social Media in Different Cultures is used differently is probably the most important for people working internationally (with Social Media). Rather than looking at the whole world, I'll keep my focus on a couple of countries (USA, Belgium, the Netherlands). But the "Why" on Social Media in different cultures remains the same. On October 2012 I was featured in the WebmasterRadio.fm Podcast "Rock the World with LinkedIn". Click here to get to the interview. Click here to download it directly. Culture Matters Which factors play a role in predicting specific behavior with Social Media in different cultures? For this I'd like to refer to the model of Professor Geert Hofstede. You can read more on this here. Adoption Speed The first thing I'd like to tackle in terms of Culture is the Adoption Speed of Social Media between the three countries (USA, Belgium & the Netherlands). Being the first has advantages over being later. Being first gives you the opportunity to... well, be the first! You can dominate the market, try new things which could be a hit (e.g. Twitter & Pinterest). The advantage of being later is that you can avoid the pitfalls that the one before you made. In terms of the Adoption Speed of Social Media in different cultures, the USA is usually the first. Followed by the Netherlands (2-3 years after the US), followed by Belgium (3-5 years after the Netherlands). The cultural dimension that plays a role in the Netherlands topping the list of Twitter users and use (corrected for population) is Femininity (or a low score on Masculinity). The Dutch are consensus seekers and in order to reach consensus you need to talk and share what's on your mind (Consensus is not the same as Compromise!). Hence the love for Twitter in the Netherlands. Adoption in general (so also for Social Media) of new "things" largely hinges on Uncertainty Avoidance. Low scoring countries adapt faster to new technologies than higher scoring cultures. The USA has a relative low score on this dimension, followed by the Netherlands with Belgium having a relatively very high score. How do we do Business? The Belgians conduct their business in a different way than the Dutch and Americans (who are more similar). In Belgium there is more of a business culture based on relationships. This is one of the reasons why the penetration of e.g. LinkedIn & Twitter has not been as fast as the US & Netherlands. A common remark I hear from Belgians is "why would I need LinkedIn if I know the person already?". The Belgians prefer to do business with people whom they know (or are referred to) as opposed to doing business with total strangers. Business with total strangers takes by far longer to move forward than in the other two countries. Again, this can mainly be attributed to Uncertainty Avoidance: I don't know you, and need to get to know you first before doing business. Use of Social Media at Work Here the differences will definitely differ from industry to industry. Tech savvy companies will allow their staff to use Social Media at the workplace. Still there are profound differences. In the US and the Netherlands over 75% of the HR professionals use LinkedIn to find new people. While in Belgium that percentage is around 40. Once again this is Uncertainty Avoidance. In a small research I've done it showed that in Belgium the majority of the people were not allowed to use Social Media privately (they still did, using their own smart phone). This can be attributed to the relative high score on Power Distance, compared to the Netherlands and the USA. Social Factors (not Cultural) One very important factor to consider is Language. Most use of Social Media is in English (American English!).