Uses and Gratification Theory

Definition

• Popular approach to understanding mass communication.
• Places more focus on consumer or audience instead of actual message itself.
• Asks what people do with media rather than what media does to people. 
• Audience members are not passive - they take an active role in interpreting and integrating media into their own lives. 
• Audiences are responsible for choosing media to meet their needs.
• People use the media to fulfil specific gratifications. 
• The media compete against other information sources for viewers' gratification. 

Basic Model

• It is suggested that the uses and gratification theory has to fulfil one of the following when we choose a form of media:
• Identify - being able to recognise the product or person in front of you, role models that reflect similar values to yours, aspirations to become someone else. 
• Educate - Being able to acquire information, knowledge and understanding. 
• Entertain - What you are consuming should give you enjoyment and also some form of 'escapism' enabling us to forget our worries temporarily. 
• Social Interaction - The ability for media products to produce a topic of conversation between other people, sparks debates (eg who is left on X-Factor)
• Uses and gratification theory can be seen in cases such as personal music selection. We select music not only to fit a particular mood, but also in attempts to show empowerment or other socially conscious motives. There are many different types of music and we choose from them to fulfil a particular need.

 

 

The Internet

The internet has had a large effect on the way the Uses and Gratification theory has been perceived in the last 10 years.

• We can identify more products and people thanks to search engines like Google.
• Music has benefited from sites like YouTube enabling us to watch any music video we choose.
• Wikipedia and other such sites allow us to gain knowledge of almost any subject we please. It could be argued that the internet has developed our education drastically over the last 10 years. 
• We can be entertained whenever we please because of sites such as YouTube and even on demand websites such as 4oD and BBC iPlayer which allow us to watch TV whenever we want online. 
• The internet gives us freedom and offers us an escape from every day life. People have access to websites that make them happy and they find enjoyable.