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Uses and Gratifications Theory : Definition, Origins and Marketing, Public Relation Examples

According to the Uses and Gratifications Theory, people use media to satisfy specific needs. Unlike many other media theories that view media users as “passive receivers of media” use and satisfaction view media users as “active agents” who can control their media consumption behavior.

This article will introduce the basic introduction, history of Uses and Gratifications Theory, and give some more recent examples of marketing and public relations implementation of Uses and Gratifications theory.

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Now, We’ll go into more details on the Uses and gratifications theory, starting with the history of the theory:

Origin and History of Uses and Gratifications Theory

Use and gratification theory was first introduced in the 1940s when academics began to study why people chose to consume various forms of media.

Researchers began observing radio listeners’ behavioral patterns in terms of the Uses and Gratifications Theory in the 1940s. Earlier research focused on behavioral patterns such as children’s usage of cartoons and newspaper strikes when newspapers were unavailable, and a lot of experts and studies attempted to explain media use from a psychological perspective during this time.

In 1948, American political scientist Harold Lasswell for the first time introduced four functional interpretations of media from a macro-sociological perspective: media provides society and individuals with four functions including mutual surveillance, association building, entertainment, and cultural communication.

Then, in the 1970s, researchers turned their attention to the outcomes of media use and the social and psychological needs that media fulfilled. Finally, in 1974, communication scientist Jay Blumler and sociologist Elihu Katz jointly published a paper titled “Uses and Gratifications Research established the theoretical prototype of Uses and Gratifications Theory. As media technology continues to evolve, it is more important than ever to understand people’s motivations for choosing media and the gratification they derive from it, in terms of uses and gratifications theories.

Basic Assumptions of Uses and Gratifications Theory

Uses and gratifications theory makes two principle assumptions about media users. First, media users are “active” in choosing the media they consume and use. From this perspective, people do not use media passively, but actively choose media to use based on their own motivations. Second, people understand their reasons for choosing different media, and they make media choices based on their perceived “self-motivation” to help them meet their specific needs.

On the basis of two principled assumptions, the use and satisfaction theory derives five additional assumptions:

  1. Media use is goal-oriented, people have the motivation to use media.
  2. “Media selection” is based on meeting specific needs and expectations.
  3. The influence of media on behavior is indirectly caused by social and psychological factors. Thus, personality and social context can influence the media choices one makes and one’s interpretation of media messages.
  4. One medium competes with other forms of media for the attention of individuals. For example, a person might choose to have a face-to-face conversation about an issue or watch a documentary about the issue.
  5. People generally have control over the media and are therefore not passively influenced by the media.

To summarize the above, the Uses and Gratifications Theory emphasizes the power of the individual over the power of the media. Individual differences will lead to differences in the influence on the media users, so the effect of media depends not only on the media content itself but also on the characteristics of media users. Therefore, even if people receive the same media message,  that message’s impact on each person will lead to different outcomes.

Five Media Satisfaction Categories of Uses and Gratifications Theory

According to traditional use and satisfaction theory, humans use media to meet five broad categories of needs, namely:

1. Affective needs

Affective needs refer to needs for emotional satisfaction and pleasure that people obtain through watching media such as soap operas, TV series, and movies. When people use the media, they can feel the emotions expressed by the characters in the media, and then obtain satisfaction.

2. Cognitive needs

People use the media to obtain information and to satisfy their spiritual and intellectual needs. For example, people watch the news mainly to satisfy this need. Other examples include: watching informational youtube channels, teaching shows, craft shows, documentaries, DIY instructional videos, and more. Search engines and the Internet are also used to obtain information to meet this need.

 

3. Social integrating needs

 

The need to socialize with family, friends and other people is a need for social integration. People use media including social networking sites such as Facebook, My Space, Twitter, etc. to socialize and interact. Furthermore, people use the media to find subjects of conversation with their family and friends in order to facilitate their social connections.

 

4. Personal integrative needs

 

Personal integrative needs refer to the need for self-identity and self-esteem building. People use the media to shape their status, credibility, self-confidence, power. For example, by watching commercials, people can learn which products are trending and to change their way of life to assimilate with others. People also tend to imitate real or fictitious characters in the media, thereby shaping an individual’s identity.

 

5. Tension-free needs

People may encounter all kinds of pressures in their lives that they do not want to face, so they can use the media to relieve the pressure. For example, people listen to music and watch TV to relieve stress.

Relevant Research on Uses and Gratifications Theory

Use and gratification research explains several motivations for people to use media. These motives include pure habit, companionship, relaxation, passing time, escape, and information access, to name a few. In addition, some newer research has also explored people’s use of media to meet higher-order needs, such as finding meaning and re-evaluating values. For example, the 2009 paper titled Appreciation as Audience Response: Exploring Entertainment Gratifications Beyond Hedonism, published in Human Communication Research, Research finds that people watch movies for entertainment and relaxation satisfaction, but also for inspiration and thought stimulation as part of their satisfaction. Research from a Uses and Gratifications Theory perspective spans a variety of media, from radio, television, search engines, to social media.

 

Uses and Gratifications Theory and Personality Traits Research

The research perspective of use and gratification theory that emphasizes individual differences has inspired researchers to open many studies on how personality affects people’s motivation to use media. For example, A Virginia Tech and State University study published in 2003 looked at personality traits such as neuroticism and extroversion in an attempt to understand whether people with different traits would have different motivations for watching television.

The researchers found that TV-watching motivations in participants with neurotic personalities included passing time, companionship, relaxation, and thrill-seeking. In addition, the biggest TV viewing motivation of the neurotic participants was “company motivation”, but the extrovert personality type did not use “company motivation” as a reason for watching TV at all. The researchers also believed that those who were socially marginalized, emotional or shy had a particularly strong fondness for television. At the same time, those who were more sociable and extroverted saw TV as a poor substitute for real-life social interaction.

 

Uses and Gratifications Theory and New Media Research

From the perspective of Uses and Gratifications Theory, communication scholars have noticed that new media has some characteristics that old media do not have. This opens up more “kinds of satisfaction” that can be satisfied with the use of new media. For example, An early study on Internet Uses and Gratifications Theory published in “Journal CyberPsychology & Behavior” in 2014 found that there are seven types of satisfaction in Internet use (as opposed to the five types of satisfaction in traditional Uses and Gratifications Theory for media):

  1. Virtual Community
  2. Information Seeking
  3. Aesthetic Experience
  4. Monetary Compensation
  5. Diversion
  6. Personal Status, and
  7. Relationship Maintenance.

Among them, the virtual community can be regarded as a new kind of satisfaction, because there was no way to use traditional media to achieve it.

Another 2004  Study published in Decision Sciences divides Internet use into three types of satisfaction: media content, media use process, and media socialization. Two of these gratifications, “content” and “process” gratifications, have been identified in previous research on television use and gratification. However, “social gratification” is considered a new kind of gratification specific to internet use.

Another 2009 study published in Cyber ​​Psychology & Behavior, looked at Uses and Gratifications of Facebook Communities, found four gratifications for participating in Facebook communities, including maintaining connections and making new friends by using Facebook, using Facebook for entertainment or leisure, and maintaining oneself through Facebook to seek self-status, and to search for information to learn about specific events and products. In a similar study, researchers found that Twitter users fulfilled their need to connect through the social network.

Criticism of the Use and Satisfaction Theory by Communication Scientists

While Uses and Gratifications Theory is an important theory in media studies, it is also subject to many criticisms. For example, the theory downplays the influence of the media, and the use and gratification theory ignores the possible effects of some media on individuals, especially some unconscious effects. Furthermore, while media users are not always passive, they may not always be active media users at all times. Finally, some communication scholars argue that use and contentment are too broad to be considered a theory and, therefore, can only be viewed as a media studies method or perspective.

 

Example of marketing and Public Relation Using Uses and Gratifications Theory

Having said so much, what are the marketing and public relations applications of the use and satisfaction theory in today’s society? An example will be given below:

GoPro Instagram Uses and Gratifications Theory Application

use and satisfy theory go pro case

One example of a modern corporate application of the theory of Uses and Gratifications is GoPro, a company that sells cameras “specifically designed to capture sports and adventure situations,” GoPro’s Instagram selects one user-submitted content each day as the “best photo of the day” ” and “Best Videos of the Day,” such as photos of skydives or videos of snorkeling, etc., and shared on their Instagram accounts and tagged users who submitted the content, mentioning the model of GoPro camera the user was using. By republishing photos of users and adding tags to those Pos, GoPro is able to meet users’ personal integration needs while meeting the stress-relief needs of viewers who follow their Instagram.

What are Some Interesting Books Related to Mass Communication in the Modern world?

By the way, since you are here chances are that you might be interested Mass Communication! Here are some books I found interesting. Of course those are affiliate links but those are the books I genuinely think are interesting :

 

  1. “The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads” by Tim Wu: This book explores the history and mechanics of how media companies compete for human attention, closely aligning with your interest in how people use media to satisfy specific needs.
  2. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business” by Neil Postman: This book scrutinizes how different media forms shape public discourse, relating to the idea that media choices depend on user needs and motivations.
  3. “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die” by Chip Heath & Dan Heath: This book can complement your understanding of why certain media messages have more impact, correlating with the Uses and Gratifications Theory’s focus on individual interpretations.
  4. “Media Effects: Advances in Theory and Research” by Jennings Bryant and Mary Beth Oliver: This academic book provides comprehensive coverage of media effects theories, including the Uses and Gratifications Theory.
  5. “Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion” by Robert B. Cialdini: This book delves into the psychology of why people say “yes,” providing insights into the motivations that might underlie media consumption choices.
  6. “Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions” by Dan Ariely: While not media-focused, this book discusses behavioral economics and could provide a fresh perspective on why people make certain media choices.

 

FAQs on Uses and Gratifications Theory

What are the five assumptions of Uses and Gratifications Theory?

  1. Media use is goal-oriented, people have the motivation to use media.
  2. “Media selection” is based on meeting specific needs and expectations.
  3. The influence of media on behavior is indirectly caused by social and psychological factors. Thus, personality and social context can influence the media choices one makes and one’s interpretation of media messages.
  4. One medium competes with other forms of media for the attention of individuals. For example, a person might choose to have a face-to-face conversation about an issue or watch a documentary about the issue.
  5. People generally have control over the media and are therefore not passively influenced by the media.

What are the top five media gratification categories for Uses and Gratifications Theory?

  1. Affective needs
  2. Cognitive needs
  3. Social integrating needs
  4. Personal integrating needs
  5. Tension-free needs

What are the criticisms of the Uses and Gratifications Theory?

  • The use and satisfaction theory ignores the influence of the media itself.
  • Some communication scholars believe that the use and satisfaction theory does not meet the criteria of symmetry theory and can only be used as an analytical method.
  • The use and gratification theory ignores the role of media in the structure of society.
  • Use and gratification theory ignores the fact that audiences may not always be proactive.

Who is the creator of the Uses and Gratifications Theory?

Communication scientist Jay Blumler and sociologist Elihu Katz. Use and gratification theory first originated in the 1940s, when researchers began to observe the behavioral patterns of radio listeners from the perspective of use and gratification theory. Earlier studies focused on behavioral patterns such as children’s use of cartoons and newspaper strikes when there were no newspapers, and during this period a number of scholars and studies have attempted to explain media use from a psychological perspective. Then, in the 1970s, researchers turned their attention to the outcomes of media use and the social and psychological needs that media fulfilled. Finally, in 1974, communication scientist Jay Blumler and sociologist Elihu Katz published a book entitled Uses and Gratifications Research, which established the relationship between use and gratification which established the inital concept of the Uses and Gratifications Theory.

References:

  • Lasswell, Harold (1948). Bryson, L. (ed.). The Structure and Function of Communication in Society. The Communication of Ideas. New York: Institute for Religious and Social Studies.
  • https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasswell%27s_model_of_communication
  • https://www.thoughtco.com/uses-and-gratifications-theory-4628333
  • Katz, Elihu, Jay G. Blumler, and Michael Gurevitch. “Uses and Gratifications Research.” Public Opinion Quarterly 4th ser. 37 (1973–1974): 509-23. JSTOR. Web.
  • Oliver, MB and Bartsch, A. (2010), Appreciation as Audience Response: Exploring Entertainment Gratifications Beyond Hedonism. Human Communication Research, 36: 53-81. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468- 2958.2009.01368.x
  • Weaver III, J. B. (2003). Individual differences in television viewing motives. Personality and individual differences, 35(6), 1427-1437.
  • Song, I., Larose, R., Eastin, MS, & Lin, CA (2004). Internet gratifications and Internet addiction: On the uses and abuses of new media. Cyberpsychology & behavior, 7(4) , 384-394.
  • Stafford, T. F., Stafford, M. R., & Schkade, L. L. (2004). Determining uses and gratifications for the Internet. Decision sciences, 35(2), 259-288.
  • Park, N., Kee, KF, & Valenzuela, S. (2009). Being immersed in social networking environment: Facebook groups, uses and gratifications, and social outcomes. Cyberpsychology & behavior, 12(6), 729-733.