To Tweet or Not To Tweet: Factors Affecting the Intensity of Twitter Usage in Japan and the Online and Offline Sociocultural Norms

Abstract

Japan’s external cultural borders are less penetrable and the Japanese Internet is more culturally homogeneous. Yet, Twitter has encountered few barriers in entering the country, and Japan has the highest Twitter penetration rate in the world. This study explored the factors that influence the intensity of Twitter use in Japan through the dual lenses of socioecology and the characteristics of computer-mediated communication. It found that relational mobility and information-sharing intention were significant predictors of Twitter use intensity. Positive relationships between Twitter self-disclosure and relational commitment and between relational commitment and intensity of Twitter use were also supported. Whether Japan’s offline social and cultural norms are also communicated in the virtual world is further explained.