Exploratory Research on Social Media and Digital
Writing : Qualitative Interview of Japanese College
Students
Keywords:
Social Media, friendship, interpersonal relationship, connected presence, cultural factor

Sang-Mi KIM, Nagoya University

Abstract
This exploratory study examined how indigenous social media relates to college students’ peerinteraction and cultural involvement toward digital writing on social networking services (SNSs)in Japan. A qualitative research design was adopted that involved semi-structured in-depth
interviews with eight university students on social media participation to investigate the role newtechnologies play in the establishment of peer connection practices. It was found that the
respondents employed SNSs to connect with friends and to establish a sense of belonging byusing a “connected presence” strategy. A thin but perpetual sense of membership belonging wasdeveloped mainly through silent online participation behavior which enhanced transient
friendships. In addition, connected presence strategies that contribute to humorous content andemoticons were analyzed and it was found that social media facilitated the creation of easy-going
online identities, which defuses tension, discomfort, or conflict. Finally, it was found that cultural
traits such as a “psychological status of shame” and an “extreme sense of privacy protection”
could have an impact on the digital writing of young people.

13

Exploratory Research on Social Media and Digital Writing : Qualitative Interview of Japanese College StudentsKIM

their families and friends at all times (Campbell

1. Introduction and Research Questions

2006). While the specific technologies differ,
As increasingly more people make use of theInternet,socialmedia

isbecoming

collectively they provide users with a space toanhang out with friends. When examining theindispensable part of everyday life. Social media

associations

refers to the Internet-based applications thatinterpersonal networks, social media has been

allow people to create and exchange content

found to generally support both the maintenanceusing digital network technologies (Boyd &of existing social ties and the formation of new

Ellison 2008). In the US, Facebook is theconnections. Much of the early research on

dominant social media, with 93％ of teen social

online communities assumed that the individuals

media users having an account, according to ausing these systems would be connecting with

2012

were

others outside their pre-existing social groups, as

approximately 168 million Facebook users in the

opposed to those within their shared geography

United States and 1 billion users worldwide as of(Wellman et al. 1996). Although this early work

October 2012 (Na et al. 2014).

acknowledged the ways in which offline andreport(Lenhart2012).

There

betweensocialmedia

andFurther, MIC reported that 57.1％ of theonline networks blend into one another, theJapanese used social media and the three main

assumed online to offline directionality may not1social media platforms were LINE , Twitter, andapply to today’s SNSs, which are structured toFacebook. More than 70％ of adolescents inboth articulate existing connections and enable

Japan are engaged in one of these social media,

the creation of new connections. Hampton andwith LINE, an indigenous social media, becoming

Wellman suggested that information technology

a central part of social interaction for Japanesesuch as social media may enhance place-based

digital natives, with more than 80％ of teenager

communities and facilitate the generation ofparticipating.

thesocial capital (Hampton 2002; Hampton andgeneration born after the general introduction of

Wellman 2003). In this regard, it can be assumed

digital2Thedigitaltechnologies

who

natives
have

are

up

that by utilizing social media, college students

immersed in and familiar with these technologies

grown

facilitate their relationships with friends they

(Seo et al. 2013). More than 50％ of the Japanesefrequently meet on campus.

younger generation use Twitter, which is ranked
as the second most popular social media in Japan.

Social Media and “Connected Presence” forAlmost 40％ of Japanese use Facebook, but thisOnline Friendship
The primary goal of the present research is to

is not as popular in the younger generation in
Japan (ICT lab 2014 ).

examine how newly diffused communication

3

Even though the most popular SNSs aretools, such as social media, are used by college

different in each country, social media plays astudents who have just started their life in a

crucial role in the lives of the networked younger

university. In particular, how they initiate andgeneration in Japan. Digital media, such as

manage new relationships with their friends

mobile phones or social media, is a connectivity

using social media in everyday life is examined.

technology that allows users to connect with

What kind of communication takes place on
14

Journal of Socio-Informatics Vol. 8 No. 1 Feb. 2016

social media and how are friendships made at therelationships and for controlling intimacy (Yangcampus?

2014).

From the results of previous research, mostThe

hypothesis

for

the

attenuationofyoung people began their days by checking

relationships in the younger generation discussed

messages on SNSs and spent the entire day on

above because of new connectivity technology,

them or a connected/online world (Yang 2014).

such as mobile phones, has also been discussed

This form of existence is known as “connected

in Japan with the emergence of mobile phone inpresence”, a concept presented by Licoppe

the late 90s. Previous research has shown that

(2004) in his research on mobile communications.

the friendships for Japan’s younger generation

Licoppe asserted that compared with landline

have become wider but thinner (Ohira 1995;

phones, mobile communication tools, such as

Matsu 1990). However, several researchers such

SMS mediated interpersonal interactions, andas Hashimoto (1998), Matsuda (2000), Tsuji

were configured to maintain links over distance(1999), and Asano (1999) strongly negate thisthrough a “continuous” presence.

finding as no empirical studies have beenThis research also investigates the significant

conducted that support this claim. Thesedevelopment of “frequent, short digital writing”

interpretations may have been distorted by(Licoppe 2004) on platforms such as Twitter orcohort effects, sampling bias, and mass media

LINE. These short writings allow or enableeffect (Hashimoto 1998; Matsuda 2000). Matsuda

people to maintain connections with friends and(2000) also demonstrated that urbanization

are more marked among young users.

increases the number of possible contacts, andLing (2004) demonstrated that mobile phone
innovations

have

dramaticallyhence,

itpromotes

selective

relationshipchangedformation. Moreover, she asserted that mobile

friendships and practices for young people.

technology is not a factor in the attenuation ofYoung people are able to contact their friends

human relationships in the youth.

more rapidly, economically and simply; further,On the basis of these prior studies, thethey can use messaging to share information

following question is proposed herein:enabling them to develop and maintain strong

RQ1: How is digital writing by the younger

peer networks.
However,connectivity

generation employed to maintain their friendships

Bauman(2003)

technology

hasarguedthatthrough social media and how social media canfragmented

affect their relationships?

friendships, leading to superficial connections.
Further, Yang (2014), on the basis of an

Association of Cultural factors and written

examination of Taiwanese young peoples’ use ofcommunication on Social Media

Facebook, asserted that connectivity technology

When discussing the attenuation of friendshiphas become a type of filter for screening or

hypothesis, it is necessary to consider the various

categorizing friends and not for deepening or

meanings of friendship across cultures (Adams

integrating friendships Bauman also asserted& Plaut 2003). Castells (2009) gave a magnificent

that categorizing friends into various types has

insight on the relationship between technologies

become a method for managing risks in intimate

and culture from a global perspective: “there is a15

Exploratory Research on Social Media and Digital Writing : Qualitative Interview of Japanese College StudentsKIM

youth culture that finds in mobile communication

while the other categories of motivation, such as

an

and

to debate issues, to form interpersonal relations,reinforcement. All technologies diffuse only toand to attract other people’s attention to their

the extent that they resonate with pre-existingownsocial structures and cultural values”

insignificant in comparison. In South Korea, in

adequate

formof

expression

existence(self-presentation),areNamely, if youth culture is to be discussed, it iscontrast, BBS are frequently used as a medium

necessary to consider the culture and social

for debate and the exchange of opinions onpractices embedded in young people’s everyday

numerous matters of public interest, including

life.

political and economic issues of the day (KimPrevious research conducted in an Asian

2003). Accordingly, the use of a tool is closely

context suggests that cultural differences might

associated with the cultural and social perception

be a factor in the significant behavioral differences(Gibson 1979) of that tool, thus cultural and social

in computer- mediated communication tool use

backgrounds have a distinct effect on the

between South Korea and Japan. For example,

engagement with and the participation in thethe differences between Japanese and South

communication tools. Each culture, therefore, isKorean communication behavior with respect tolikely to have its own distinctive associated

BBS, as demonstrated in previously reported

behaviors, usage patterns, and effects. Moreover,surveys demonstrated these differences. Morewhen investigating these cultural differences,than 70％ of Korean university students surveyed

communication styles and the manner in whichin 2008 accessed BBS at least once a day .

interpersonal relations are conducted must also

Further, 25.1％ of those who regularly accessed

be considered as potential causal factors.

4bulletin boards (BBS) wrote on these boards,

For example, communication within the in-while only 3.1％ claimed that they “never write

group (uchi) is conducted differently fromon bulletin board.” (Kim 2003). However, in

communicationcomparison, the Japanese use of communication(Nakane 1967). In addition, there is a tendency totools, such as BBS and community sites, appears

avoid publicizing personal information in Japan

to be more restrained. Research has indicated(Kim 2010). This reflects the mentality of “notthat all but a very small minority of users on

wanting to be seen”, and together with thethese sites initiate a two-way communication andemphasis on privacy protection in the mass

were “read only” users (Kim 2003). Analysis of

media, has led to the creation of a distinctive

the use habits of the registered members of aJapanese Internet culture. In this study, thepsychological forum revealed that 83％ had

possible effects of such cultural factors on thenever written anything on the site even one year

contribution behavior toward such social media

after it was established. Of those who had written,

are investigated. On the basis of previous studies,

two thirds had done so three times or less .

the following question is proposed:

5

with

those

outside(soto)

Therefore, the frequency of posting on BBS andthe motivation for engaging with the site are

RQ2: How do the cultural and social differences

different. According to a previous study, thein communication styles affect the ways in which

Japanese use BBS for “information exchange,”

people participate in digital writing on social
16

Journal of Socio-Informatics Vol. 8 No. 1 Feb. 2016

media?

three had a Facebook page. Each student wasinterviewed several times. With their consent,

While it is recognized that different social

each interview session was recorded. The

media interfaces have various communicative

content of the interviews was then transcribedfunctions, this paper mainly focuses on how theand combined with field notes for data analysis. A

interpersonal functions are used to form andthematic analysis was conducted in this study by

maintain ties, rather than on categorizing thethoroughly and repeatedly examining data tofunctions according to the media traits. In

identify frequently mentioned topics that wereaddition, the social and cultural characteristics ofclosely related to the interviewee’s life and thedigital writing by the Japanese youth are analyzed

social and cultural effects on their digital writing.

in terms of their participative behavior on the

The experiential data was then analyzed to obtain

Internet. This study also attempts to identify

answers to the research questions.

some of the socio–psychological factors at play insocial media.

Table1. The detail of Participants

2. Method
Qualitative approach is usually adapted not
only to clarify the dyadic or triadic causal effectamong factors but also to acquire the tentative
appreciation and/or speculation by considering*T:Twitter, L:LINE, FB:Facebook

participants’ social and cultural proposition.
In this study, for preliminary investigation for

3. Findings and Discussion

the effect that social media has on college
students’ connectivity and friendships, and to
examine their daily interactions by considering

The participants in this study were so called

their social practices and the culture, a semi-

digital natives who had experienced the evolution

conducted and in-depth interview method wasof digital technology. They had graduated fromadopted. A purposive sampling method was usedhigh school around eight months ago and wereand significant sampling variations such as

making great efforts to adapt themselves to agender, economic background, and life style

new environment and to make new friends.

were considered. First year students from a

The three major activities for the Japanese

university located in a specific city who claimed

university students were identified: attending

to have experiences with friendship wereclasses, participating in club activities, and/or

recruited.

working at part-time jobs. While busy doing

A total of 8 respondents were examined, four

these three activities almost every day, they werefemales and four males. In addition, all students

also devoting themselves to socializing using

belonged to certain clubs or circles . Almost all

their smartphones. It is already well known thatparticipants used LINE and Twitter but and only

more than half of social media users access SNSs

6

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Exploratory Research on Social Media and Digital Writing : Qualitative Interview of Japanese College StudentsKIM

using a Smartphone (MIC 2014).
Theyneededtoinitialize

students’ need of belonging but the number ofinterpersonal

members participating in each group varied. For

relationships for not only useful reasons but also

example, most students generally belonged tofor psychological stability. The socializing wasgroups from the same department or thosecontinuous but also appeared to be extremely

associated with their club activities. In addition,difficult to deal with. Although they had different

other small groups were often offshoots from theperspectives on the media usage and friendship,

mother group to fulfill the participants’ individual

the central focus of their life was their study, club

purpose.

activities, and/or part-time jobs. When examining
theseexperiences

and

the

Group chatting involved scheduling and therelationshipannouncement of various kinds of events andinteractions during their lives on the campus,

activities. There were usually core member whothese experiences and interactions must be

gave announcements in the chat group on LINE,

considered within their life context and social

and there was no useless chatter.

landscape to better understand their emotional
experiences and relationship practices (Yang

Thin but perpetual sense of belonging to2014).

membership with silent participation
Most participants seemed quite satisfied with

Effect of Social Media on the student’s

being a group member on LINE to find about theconnection with friends and on establishing alatest class activities without needing to talk. For

sense of belonging

example, even student D who was an outgoing

Participants did not make phone calls but

person did not initiate any dialogue on LINE

spent most of their time online on their smart

group chatting. Participants felt connected to thephones except when studying or involved in clubother people through the continual flow of small

activities. All participants expressed a desire tocommunicative acts. As is well known to LINE

exercise their will power to control the use ofusers, LINE offers a read/unread function totheir smartphone or the time spent engaging inmark the state of a message. If marked as “Readsocial media.

(Kidoku)” this indicates a “silent participation”.

All respondents used LINE and were involved

As participant, D stressed below:

in two types of combinations: individual chatting
and group chatting. When asked how many LINE

D: I don’t and can’t speak in group chat to allgroups they were engaged in, participant A had

classmates. And I don’t know who created thejoined 34 groups on LINE but was actively

group. But, the “read (Kidoku)” number soon

involved in only 5 of these. The other participants

becomes 20, 30, 40, so it seems surely to be

had also joined tens of groups on LINE. However,reliable.

further questioning revealed that few interacted
regularly with more than five. Further, their

Female participants, such as F and G, inindividual chats on LINE also did not exceed withparticular, used group chat on LINE extensively.

five people.

Even though they did not voluntarily post
announcements

LINE group chatting potentially satisfied the
18

and

just

“lurked(silent

Journal of Socio-Informatics Vol. 8 No. 1 Feb. 2016

participation),” they enjoyed the sense ofbirthday” to each other.

belonging to a specific group.
No participant checked or tweeted regarding
F: Captain or the person in charge of thesocial issues or news. Consequently, they were

drinking party, or a manager, informs everyone

reluctant to post, reply, or retweet serious orof something there annually. But we only read it

political opinions on Twitter. They were more

and then it’s over.

likely to evade heavy or negative topics like social

G: There is a group on LINE of all the students

issues or depressing feelings and troubles onin the same department. It is used for businesssocial media. When they encountered excessive

contacts. We don’t have any class monitor so

demands from others, social media enabled theeveryone feels free to speak there when he orparticipants to conceal their true feelings andshe notices something, such as who passed themaintain their calm. The characteristics of theexam, and if “Everyone passed the exam”,“connected presence” also allowed them tosometimes they send photos. Everyone isexpress only pleasant or positive information, as

reading it. But I don’t write there.

highlighted by B:“Silent participation” or interposing more

B: An intense environment is the mostvisibly between people is another form oftroublesome. For example, I am always careful to“connected presence,” because participants fear

avoid

they would be isolated from others and unable tosomething that makes others speechless. I don’t“catch up” with events in the outside world. The

talk seriously on Twitter. I use it to write

social implication of the “connected presence” ofsomething light and insignificant, such as “I justsocial media can be defined not as communication

watched a speech of Suga-san on TV, and what a

but as small expressive gestures between

weak-willed person he is.” That’s all.

embarrassing

situations

likesayingmembers.

Sharing

This “silent participation” tendency was also

amusing

content

toenhanceemotional connection

found on Twitter. Most participants did not focus
on or were not enthusiastic about commenting onYoung participants show their feelings by

Twitter and they typically only read other people’s

sharing humorous content and making otherlatest status posts and checked what others werepeople laugh. By making friends happy anddoing. Nor did respondents follow celebrity

finding common points to laugh about, they feel

twitter feeds and rarely posted social or politicalrelaxed and fulfilled with their friendships whenissues.

using social media.

G: I read Twitter everyday but basically don’t

E: If someone likes my post, I would be very

post on it. I read the timeline, see others’ feelings

happy. It means that someone is definitely looking

and read what they are doing. I don’t follow

at my post! I feel very happy. I don’t know the way

celebrities; I just want to know how my friends

to make people like my posts. There are people

are doing. We share and respond, and say “happy

who are good at it. They can tell something funny
19

Exploratory Research on Social Media and Digital Writing : Qualitative Interview of Japanese College StudentsKIM

and get laughs.

I don’t want to show my interests to them. When
I went to a concert, and they asked where I went

Participants shared humorous content because

and I say, “it’s secret”…and because I am busy

it made them seem to be an open minded personwith a part-time job and club activities, I don’t

worth connecting to. Further, they wanted thehave much time to check LINE. I read it after myaudience to appreciate their sense of humor.

job and club, but mostly the talk has already

Most respondents shared humorous movies orfinished. It is a little disappointing to see thempictures on social media. Female participant, F,

talking happily (without me). A little while ago,stated the following:

the other 4 people went out while I was attending
a course (because I take a different course), and

F: Basically, I login to an account that has mythey seemed to be having a great time. Then they

actual friends. I use the accounts when I am free.

uploaded a picture to group. I thought “why did

I absolutely post once every day about something

they upload it here?” but still, I wrote “You lookedthat happened on that day, or about some funny

happy”. I felt lonely about this.

guy on the train. I want to tell interesting stories
to everybody. If I get a response like “it’sOnline relationships provide and satisfy

interesting!” I am very happy because it means it

friendship needs without requiring the effort ofis interesting not only to me but also to others. I

realfeel satisfied with providing funny stuff that cancharacteristics of a good friend included trust,

make others laugh.

honesty, and loyalty (McLeod 2002). Students

worldexperience

friendships.

uncertainty

In

the

past,

regarding

the

the

Participants were known to avoid in-depth

maintenance and selection of friendships because

discussion and preferred to maintain thinof the many interactive characteristics of digitalinterpersonal relationships with friends on

networks and their busy lifestyles. As Yang

campus. From previous studies on the younger

mentioned, connectivity technology has caused

generation’s interpersonal bonds, Matsui (1990)

student friendships and interpersonal relations tofound that compared to the past, young people

become random and flexible. Loyalty exists in a

did not want to maintain deep friendships but

stable and continuous in-depth association

wished to associate in a segmented way (Matsui

between people. In addition, because these thin-1990). For example, F commented that she didlevel interactions are “frictionless,” they provide

not want to reveal her hobbies even to intimate

a happy, satisfactory type of relationship (Yangcollege friends without a specific reason and did2014).

not seem have any feelings of guilt about hiding

The individual LINE messenger was found to

this information or not revealing all her feelings,

be used as a supplement to face-to-face

as she said.

interactions between people who were alreadyacquainted. Friendship in the past has been

F: Actually, I don’t talk about the bands I favordefined as to “perceive and sympathize with

with my friends. I never want to expose myself

another’s feeling (Sassuru)”, but research haswith intimate people from the same department.

shown that this has changed to do not go in-depth
20

Journal of Socio-Informatics Vol. 8 No. 1 Feb. 2016of each other’s feeling (Tachiiranai)” (Ohira

C: It’s not so good to speak to new friends at1995). This assumption is based on thecollege with a cold attitude, so I usually use“hypothesis of attenuation of interpersonal

Emoji7. I can speak to people with a long

relations in the youth” in Japan. Evidence for thisfriendship curtly but intimately. But I can’t talkclaim was provided by the student interviews, as

curtly to friends who I haven’t spoken to since

can be seen in the statements below.

over half a year.

A: If I see something negative or something

F: If we get along well with each other, it’s okay

not very good on Twitter, I just leave it alone andto talk casually. I use Emoji when I talk to

don’t touch it. For example, if I saw my friend

someone I am not familiar with.

post “I had a hard time...”, I would think that
Interestingly, emoticons are more frequently

maybe something had happened to him or her.

used for superficial friends/acquaintances. A

But I would not reply to it.

possible explanation might that campus friends
C: I don’t unburden my problems on LINE. If I

do not know each other for a very long time aswant to talk about them, I’d like to talk face tothey had only recently met, and they have to getface. I don’t like being misconstrued.

along with each other for four years; therefore,
they tend to use emoticons to lighten the

Current digital natives were found to “avoid

atmosphere.

intruding into other peoples lives.” In addition,

In addition, from the interviews, it became

they adopted “emoticons” as a resource to easeapparent that gender came into play when using

friction on social media. In other words,

emoticons. G explained that he used Emojiemoticons were not only used to express theiraccording to the recipient’s gender.

genuine feelings or emotions but also functioned
as “emotional lubricants” to manipulate and

G: I feel that, I don’t need to pay attention whencontrol their authentic “negative” emotions so as

I talk with a man on LINE. I don’t need to use

not to hurt or offend others’ feelings.

Emoji; it’s okay to use just words with guys...
However, I have to pay attention when I talk with

A: My friend once sent me a picture and said it

a girl.

was interesting. I really didn’t think so, but I had
to say something about it. So I just sent him an

Digital Writing Reluctance and Shame (Haji)

emoticon

Culturedisplaying“veryinteresting!”

to“deceive” him…Rather than cheating, it isC, a somewhat reserved person, started using

somewhat troublesome. If I say “it isn’t

Twitter when he entered a university but quit 3

fascinating”, the exchange of dialogue will

months after. He explained his reason below.

continue which is very troublesome. So instead
C: I feel ashamed. It is alright to post somethingof saying, I finish and run away from the chat by

about events related to other people, but when it

using an emoticon.

comes to my history or what was happening to21

Exploratory Research on Social Media and Digital Writing : Qualitative Interview of Japanese College StudentsKIM

me, I had no idea how I should deal with it on

In addition, owing to Protection of Privacy, it

Twitter. And...I have had interactions withusually prevented the students from building

someone on Twitter, but this ended because of

new social bonds on the Internet. Almost all

my curt responses. I don’t like leaving myrespondents locked their twitter accounts so

footprints--interactions on others on Twitter as

people they did not know face-to-face were unable

my correspondence is revealed. I hate it. It’s

to access the account.

better to use LINE. I don’t understand why it has

Twitter allows any anonymous person to create

to be done on Twitter.

a weak connection, which allows them to gain
access to a broad range of heterogeneous

C gave three reasons why he quit Twitter.

information. However, this was not the case forFirstly, he felt pressure to write about himself

most of the participants in this study. Further,while being conscious of the attention of others.

more females tended to fold or close their twitter

Secondly, he was anxious and embarrassed toaccounts than males. H asserted below.

have dialogues without any visual social cues
such as nonverbal expressions. He mentioned

H: I think in order to protect our privacy andthat he sometimes even deliberately cut off theenjoy the social media, locking the account is ainteractive

feltvery effective way. If your twitter includes

psychological pressure about releasing his

individual information, lock the accounts! You

private information to others and a fear from thecan allow only people you give permission to toability of others to read the visiting history.

read it, and this is what you must do! And I don’t

communication.

Consequently,

theLastly,heother-oriented

want to get to know or need to know new people

communication style and the accompanying

through twitter. That is scary.

obsession with how they are viewed by others
could be seen to be related to the structure of

Personal home pages did not feature individual“shame”, a subject on Japanese culture which has

or family members’ photographs to the extent

had many commentators (Benedict 1967). The

they do in South Korea or the United States (Kimother-oriented communication style is the most2004). This could be to avoid accusations oftypical of the communication that was found toarrogance or attention seeking as well as tooccur within the circle of the primary group to

maintain personal privacy. Twitter allows users

which an individual belongs. The desire not tothe chance to create and gather new and“stand out” and to blend in with the group is aheterogeneous information from other countries,

feature of this style of communication.

but it was found that these Japanese college

Moreover, people in individualistic cultures

students ignored this function and used only aprefer to “stand out,” whereas people inlimited part of Twitter. The female students, incollectivistic cultures prefer the self to “be effaced

particular, were more concerned about privacy

and dissolved into” their in-groups (Triandis

protection.

1995). Therefore it can be assumed that people inindividualistic versus collectivistic cultures would

G: Because I’ve locked my account so others

have different types of digital writing styles.

cannot see my Twitter. And I open my name and22

Journal of Socio-Informatics Vol. 8 No. 1 Feb. 2016

the name of the city where I live in to the public

relationships. Studying young people’s friendshipon Twitter. Sometimes, someone just wanted toin the context of social media is important, as

follow me by seeing my name. But…I don’t likethese platforms are significant for practicing andshowing my photo to people I don’ now.

experimenting with friendship.
A key finding was that social media was foundJapanese people tend not to express opinions

to play an important role in the students’on political or economic matters (Kim 2010). In

connection with their friends and in thecomputer-mediated(CMC)

establishment of a sense of belonging throughresearch, issues that could potentially become

deploying a “connected presence” strategy. Most

topics of debate tend not to be taken up. The veryof all, a thin but perpetual sense of belonging to aact of raising such topics could attract themembership was found through a silent online

accusation of being medachtagariya (“attention

participative behavior, which was found toseeking”). On my speculation, even in academicenhance transient friendships. Marking othercontexts where lively debate might be expected,

posts

there tends to be an avoidance of directcommunication gesture to show their existence

expressions of opinion, especially where there isand to maintain friendships. These results area possibility of disagreement, in the interests ofconsistent with previous studies that investigatedmaintaining at least the outward appearance ofJapanese lurking behavior on BBS (Kim 2004).

consensus. Despite participant A tended to write

However, the psychological reasoning for thesesomething related to politics, he was too anxious

two kinds of online behavior might be different.

about how peoples would assess and consider his

While these two behaviors have common factors

contribution of that kind of topic. A explainedsuch as the demand for reciprocity, these were

below.

found to be relatively weak compared to individual

communication

chat

as

on

“Read”

other

on

LINE

was

applications.

a

small

However,

A: For example, when I write my opinion aboutcommunication on BBS is often with unknown

the news, I write some, but then I just stop andand anonymous people, whereas group chat on

delete it. There are other opinions about theLINE is most often with known acquaintances. As

news, so I feel like it’s better for me not to put mythis research did not investigate whether/how

feelings into it. So I rarely say anything serious

the respondents participated on BBS and did not

on Twitter. There are so many different opinions.

compare the psychological behavior, the results

If I write too much about mine, I think my friends

should be interpreted with caution. However, as

would be sick of it and I hate it.

silent communication on SNSs in the younger
generation has been observed in other countries

Conclusion

such as Taiwan (Yang 2014), it cannot be assessed

This study took an exploratory approach to
examinecollegestudents’perception

to be a unique trait for the Japanese.

of

In addition, the analysis of the strategy offriendship, how they used social media, and theposting amusing content and using emoticons tocultural factors associated with their reported

demonstrate a “connected presence” indicatedbehavior to form and maintain their humanthat social media facilitated the creation of easy23

Exploratory Research on Social Media and Digital Writing : Qualitative Interview of Japanese College StudentsKIM

going online identities so as to defuse tension,

media behavior. I will aim to examine how thediscomfort, or conflict.

cultural effects on young Japanese living in

Secondly, contrary to the results from CMC

different cultures might lead to the use of

research in North America and Europe, thedifferent tools of communication at upcoming

Internet-use patterns differed according to local

study. Lastly, because of the limited study objects,

culturalWhen

there was not enough evidence to confirm

considering how such communication affects thewhether social media enhanced “the hypothesis

formation of interpersonal relations and theof attenuation of human relationship”. Futureexchange of emotions and opinions, it isresearch should include both quantitative andnecessary to take such cultural factors into

cultural comparative perspectives.

andsocialcircumstances.

account. This paper has suggested some of theThis paper has attempted to examine how

ways in which these effects may occur. For

indigenous social media affects the interaction of

example, the cultural traits of “psychologicalcollege students in Japan by examining how

status of shame (Haji)” and “extreme sense of“connected presence’, and silent participation

privacy protection” could affect the extent of

can enhance transient types of friendships.

digital writing and contribution by young people.

Gender differences were observed in the reasons

An interesting finding was that most respondents

for using social media. For example, young men

locked their Twitter accounts so strangers could

primarily used social media to arrange activities

not make contact. Therefore, Twitter was notwith their friends, whereas young women used it

used to express open opinions, as is the case into create and maintain a space for flourishingother countries, but was only used to share statusfriendships. The females also reported that theirwith known acquaintances. These results were“addiction to social media” was connected to a

opposite to the tendencies found in previous

connection- dependence (Tsunagari Izon), whichfindings that explored the association between

was not seen in males. In future research,

teens’ social media and collective action. For

reflections on the differences between theexample, in the USA, it was found that teen online

genders in traditional friendships and how the

behavior gradually unmoored them from their

younger generation constructs their identity inlocal geographical setting. (Seo et al. 2013).

their daily lives using technology needs to be

There are some limitations of this study. Firstly,

explored and could shed light on academic

a quantitative approach with a larger and moreachievements for both media and gender studies.

representative sample would have contributed

Funding

results that are more generalizable. While thequalitative approach used in this study is an

This work was supported by the Grant-in-Aid

acceptable preliminary method to explore thefor Young Scientists (B) from Japan Society for

research questions and objectives, more data is

the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and TAF (Thenecessary to confirm the findings. Secondly, as

Telecommunications Advancement Foundation).

the current study was conducted only on
Japanese students, it was inadequate for an

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27