TY - JOUR
T1 - MySpace or mixi? Japanese engagement with SNS (social networking sites) in the global age
AU - Takahashi, Toshie
PY - 2010/5/1
Y1 - 2010/5/1
N2 - Much has been written about how social networking sites (SNS) have provided new avenues for self-expression, connectivity and 'self-creation' among young people, but few pay due attention to geographical and cultural variations. This article takes up the Japanese case by analysing how its youths engage with SNS, like MySpace and Mixi, within a framework of 'audience engagement' that encompasses the multiple dimensions of audience activities. Drawing on an ethnography of Japanese youths living in the media-rich Tokyo Metropolitan Area, this article discusses the following four dimensions of audience engagement: information-seeking activity, connectivity, bricolage and participation. While it is neither all about me in MySpace nor all about us in Mixi, it is suggested that MySpace is about me and them and Mixi is about me with them. Japanese young people reflexively create and re-create themselves in everyday life with to-ing and fro-ing in the spectrum between two different cultural values, via SNS.
AB - Much has been written about how social networking sites (SNS) have provided new avenues for self-expression, connectivity and 'self-creation' among young people, but few pay due attention to geographical and cultural variations. This article takes up the Japanese case by analysing how its youths engage with SNS, like MySpace and Mixi, within a framework of 'audience engagement' that encompasses the multiple dimensions of audience activities. Drawing on an ethnography of Japanese youths living in the media-rich Tokyo Metropolitan Area, this article discusses the following four dimensions of audience engagement: information-seeking activity, connectivity, bricolage and participation. While it is neither all about me in MySpace nor all about us in Mixi, it is suggested that MySpace is about me and them and Mixi is about me with them. Japanese young people reflexively create and re-create themselves in everyday life with to-ing and fro-ing in the spectrum between two different cultural values, via SNS.
KW - Audience engagement
KW - Bricolage
KW - Connectivity
KW - Ethnography
KW - Globalization
KW - Internationalization of media studies
KW - Japanese young people
KW - Mobile phones
KW - SNS (social networking sites)
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77952160877&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77952160877&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1177/1461444809343462
DO - 10.1177/1461444809343462
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77952160877
VL - 12
SP - 453
EP - 475
JO - New Media and Society
JF - New Media and Society
SN - 1461-4448
IS - 3
ER -