Constructing Integration Orientation through Social Media: A Cross-Cultural Comparison of Turk and Koreans in Germany

Social media play an important role particularly in the social lives of young people, having transformed communication behaviors and the nature of social relations. They enable communication with disregard of space or time, as interaction is mostly asynchronous. Therefore, social media facilitate the building and maintenance of social relations even at a distance. These aspects of social media can be relevant for ethnic groups to resolve cultural differences and help the integration into society. In spite of the growing popularity and reach, the role social media play in the social integration of ethnic groups particularly in Germany is still under-researched. Thus, the aim of the study presented here is to explore the relationship between social integration orientations and social media use of young adults from two specific ethnic groups living in Germany: Turkey and South Korea. Conceptually, an interdisciplinary framework based on Berry’s acculturation model has been developed that distinguishes between social integration orientations offline and social integration orientations online when using social media. Empirically, a mixed methods design was implemented, combining focus group discussions with a cross-sectional online survey. First results indicate that social media use enhanced the construction of a bi-cultural integration orientation online, implying a divergence from the social integration orientation offline.
Keywords: social media use, social integration orientation, ethnic groups, Germany