The Influence Of Facebook Use On Arab College Students’ Chinese Cultural Identity

Recognition of national culture is an effective prerequisite for the realization of“The Belt and Road” cross-cultural communication.The Arab countries which located in West Asia and North Africa are natural partners of the initiative.It can be seen from the “Arab Spring” movement that the influence of new media in the Arab world is extensive and far-reaching.According to data from “2019 Middle East Social Media Report”,Facebook’s monthly active users in the region have maintained a steady growth,youth have become the main users of social media in the Arab region.Therefore,paying attention to the characteristics of new media use by Arab youth groups is the key to country’s rapid and efficient communication to Arab World.At present,most academic studies on the media use of Arab audiences still remain at the stage of conceptual discussion,and there is a lack of specific empirical research.Therefore,this article is based on the “Cultural Identity Theory”,comprehensively uses the knowledge of communication and sociology,combines quantitative and qualitative research,and uses questionnaire surveys and in-depth interviews to empirically investigate the influence of Arab college students’ use of social media on the influences of Chinese cultural identity.The independent variables of this study are social media usage behaviors,including years of use,duration,frequency,and interaction.The dependent variables are three levels of Chinese culture: outer material culture,including material cultural heritage,geographic culture;middle-level culture,including food,Crafts and technology,and cultural psychology,including historical culture,customs and values,etc.The following conclusions can be drawn from correlation and regression analysis:First,Arab college students’ time to open Facebook,use intensity and number of friends have a certain impact on Chinese cultural cognition and behavioral degrees,but they have no impact on cultural emotions.Second,in the interactive situation,paying attention to the Chinese media homepage has a significant impact on the Chinese cultural identity of Arab college students,while paying attention to Western media and local media does not affect the Chinese cultural identity of Arab college students.Third,in the form of interaction,following Chinese public homepages,joining Chinese interest groups,watching Chinese videos,and reposting and commenting on Chinarelated posts all have an impact on the Chinese cultural identity of Arab college students,among which commenting posts have an impact on Chinese cultural identity obviously,the more times of comments,the higher the recognition of Chinese culture.In addition,the article summarizes the characteristics of the cultural identity of Arab college students under the influence of social media: “Cultural Relationships”give rise to cultural cognitive motivation.“Common values” maintain cultural and emotional bonds.“Seek development” promotes the implementation of cultural behavior.