ABSTRACT
The Internet has significant implications for cross-cultural marketing which can be contextualized in the wider frame of cyberculture in the networked society. Cyberculture is a concept developed by anthropologists to refer to the ways that information communications technology is used by individuals in daily life, and how the new replaces the old. The first section of this chapter outlines some of the key features of cyberculture in the context of network society. The second section of the chapter focuses on unequal access to the Internet in different parts of the world, which has considerable implications for marketers’ ability to use the Internet as a method of distribution and promotion. The third part of the chapter discusses the important role that Internet cafés play in the cyberculture of developing countries that have low levels of access. Who uses Internet cafés, for what purpose, and the costs payable will be addressed. Another pertinent issue is the ethnic divisions that exist in Internet use and how it can be used to sustain or modify ethnic and racial identities. The fourth section addresses how transnational migrants use the Internet to maintain their cultural roots back ‘home’.
