Common Uses and Gratifications In Social Media

     Everyone who uses social media, uses it for a reason.  Whether it's a quest for knowledge or a way to pass time when you're bored, users are still drawn to social media.  There is a plethora of uses and gratifications that draw a user to any specific social media, but here are several broad examples:

• Social Interaction
• Information Seeking
• Pass Time
• Entertainment
• Relaxation
• Communicatory Utility
• Convenience Utility
• Expression of Opinion
• Information Sharing
• Surveillance/ Knowledge of Others

     Of those who are active on social media, most can say that they've used social media for at least one or more of the examples from the list.  I personally can recall using social media for every one of these uses and gratifications since I started using social media with Myspace a few years ago. 

     The theory of Uses and Gratifications is undeniably directly related to social media.  Understanding why a user wants to use social media provides a better understanding of how to effectively use it.  In terms of my capstone project, I must differentiate the uses and gratifications that followers of Brother's Pizza look for.

     Not only must the uses and gratifications be taken into account; in order to effectively run social media for a business, their operators must also differentiate the uses for each social media.

     For example, the reason a follower would use Instagram could be much different than why a user visits their Facebook profile.  Discovering the most common uses and gratifications for each social media can help to tailor your posts to better suit the audiences' needs. 


Source:

Whiting, A., & Williams, D. (2013). Why People Use Social Media: A Uses and Gratifications Approach.  Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal.  16 (4), 362-369.