The Nature of Social Media Use and Ethnic Minorities' Acculturation

• In Event: AERA Poster Session 10
  In Poster Session: Peer, Collaborative, and Social Processes in Technology-Based Environments

Abstract

Social media is a significant element in immigrants’ and sojourners’ cultural adaptation process, and understanding how the nature of social media usage is associated with acculturation is critical to maximizing its potential for acculturation. Interviews with 29 secondary school ethnic minority students in Hong Kong revealed a dialectic interaction between social media use and acculturation engagement: different social media experiences influenced different aspects of acculturation, and different acculturation orientations also shaped the ethnic minority students’ selective engagement with social media. The findings suggested a more nuanced and dynamic approach towards understanding the interdependence and cyclical interaction between the nature of social media use and acculturation.

Author

• CHUN LAI