The Whole Online World is Watching: Profiling Social Networking Sites and Activists in China, Latin America and the United States

Abstract

Using a cross-cultural framework, this study relies on survey data to examine how activists in China, Latin America, and the United States use social networking sites for their mobilizing efforts. Activists in China assigned greater importance to social media to promote debate. Those in Latin America expressed more apprehensions about the ease of using social networking sites. Respondents from the United States had greater confidence in their own ability to solve community problems.