That only means American culture is more exported than others in many forms like movies, TV shows, etc. People like to watch American shows, American that, American this, etc. If Honk Kong and Seoul were able to export their culture as effectively you'll know about them too. A lot of people know about Paris and Cannes in the US. Doesn't mean they are "well educated" or anything. Nor the other way around.

This is true and it's true in SEAsia. In Japan, SK culture has pervaded TV and entertainment, moreso than American Entertainment. Go to Taipei and you can see the evidence of Japanese culture (well, this is two-pronged, Japanese legacy on the island as well as youth culture) along with SK culture. The only place American culture might have the upper hand in SEAsia is in blockbuster movies --but that's a minority of movies shown or seen.

In Africa, lots of the entertainment, while English language, is Nigerian English with Nigerian TV and music being very influential.

(Although I will say that Red Dog was a nicely done and uniquely Australian movie.)

I'm Australian, and despite numerous cultural shifts, when you graduate the natural place to go is Europe. The thing young Aus/NZ people do is backpack around Europe.

When I was growing up, I knew a lot about the US from Mass Media, but it was pretty shallow. I saw the US as a mono-culture. When I finally visited the states that's what shocked me most - it's a diverse, complex place. In many ways more so than Europe.

I have my doubts about #4 too.

I think the problem is that all the non-boring places to live in the US _are_ a monoculture, mostly due to the network. (Then again, most non-boring places on Earth are all converging to this point anyway.) The parts that diverge from the monoculture are places that would be horrible to live (e.g. the south, the rust belt, etc).

Heck, if you go to Texas, Austin is culturally different from, say, Houston.

I've lived in the Southwest, the Northeast, and the Northwest. I can say these areas are culturally different and if you don't see it, you haven't lived in enough places.

I think the big problem is that culture is largely invisible to those who grow up in it. All the little things you do, how you greet people, the little micro-dialects of the language, etc. are so second-nature that they are hard to see.

As for Hong Kong vs Seoul, I would look for boxy Korean characters in Seoul and various Chinese forms in HK.

I'm a USAn who has never been to Germany, Korea, or Hong Kong... but I read a lot, and pay attention. Most smart people do both of those things. I suspect it's part of the definition of "smart" these days.

As an American, that weirds me out.