社交網站的跨文化分析比較：以臺灣的無名小站與美國的My Space為例

A Cross-cultural Analysis of Social Network Sites in Taiwan and U.S.A.: Comparisons between Wretch and My Space

本研究以在Hofstede的文化歸類屬於高權力距離、高不確定性規避、集體主義、女性文化以及長程取向的台灣，與相對的屬於低權力距離、低不確定性規避、個人主義、男性文化以及短程取向的美國進行比較，探討兩者在交友情境的設計上是否展示Hofstede所發現的文化差異。研究結果顯示台灣的無名小站與美國的My Space在權力距離、不確定規避兩面向上呈現較多與Hofstede 60、70年代對全球IBM公司調查的結果一致。然而，在個人主義與男性文化的面向上，無名小站與美國My Space差異不大，有些指標甚至還超越My Space。Hofstede在這兩面向上對於台灣與美國的分類，在40年後的今天是受到質疑的。最後，令東西方學者困惑不解的長程短程取向，無名與My Space在追求效率的3項短程指標上──網站地圖、搜尋引擎、及專家聊天室，均未有差異。這個Hofstede最後發展的跨文化分析面向，無法提供跨文化的分析比較。

The study aims to investigate the cultural differences of social network sites between Taiwan and USA. Taiwan and USA were at two contrasting poles of the five cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede in the 70s. According to Hofstede, Taiwan belonged to high power distance, high uncertainty avoidance, collectivistic, feminine, and long-term orientations; while USA low power distance, low uncertainty avoidance, individualistic, masculine, and short-term orientations. Data were collected from Wretch and My Space for a period of 3 months from March to May 2007. The results indicated that Wretch was still high on power distance and uncertainty avoidance, which was consistent with Hofstede's observation 40 years ago. However, Wretch demonstrated individualism and masculinity, which raise significant doubt on Hofstede's original classification of Taiwan on the two cultural dimensions. Lastly, no differences were found on short/long-term dimension. As suggested in previous literature, this fifth dimension was theoretically flawed.