Socio-Cultural Differences in the Use of Personal Web Homepage and Electronic Communities among Japanese, Finnish, and Korean Youth

Abstract

Statistics about the young in Japan, Finland, and Korea show that only a small percentage of people have a personal web homepage. What are the differences between homepage holders and others? We attempt to answer this question by examining empirical data and focusing on information-network environmental factors and individual factors. Results show that in the three countries, people who have higher Internet skills and motivation to communicate with others are more likely to have homepages. However, in terms of Japan alone, statistics show that those who have a homepage tend to use it at home and tend to use the Internet to reduce psychological stress (for "healing"). The Japanese characteristics may reflect the fact that those who have homepages are often engaged in anonymous communication on websites (e.g., personal diaries) alone at home, which is hardly observed in other societies.