Drawing from the theoretical framework of uses and gratifications theory, this project explored the ways that acculturation affects Chinese international college students’ usage of two social networking sites, Facebook and Renren. An online survey was conducted to gather data about Chinese international students’ acculturation levels and their usage of and gratifications for Facebook (N = 144) and Renren (N = 106). Pearson correlations and bootstrapping analyses were performed.
Results showed that the adaptation to American culture was positively related to participants’ gratifications for and usage of Facebook. Moreover, gratifications mediated the relationship between acculturation and Facebook usage. Similarly, participants’ identification with Chinese culture was positively associated with their gratifications for Renren. However, acculturation was not found to be correlated with Renren usage. These findings have several implications for uses and gratifications theory, the bidimensional model of acculturation, and ethnic media use studies. In addition, this study provides suggestions for acculturative stress coping programs and marketers’ use of social networking sites.