Gratification and Use of Social Media Theory - Essay Example

Gratification and uses Theory (use of social Media) Student Name Tutor Course Date statement I declare that this is my original work and has not been done or presented to any other institution of learning at any level of education or copied either in whole or in parts from any other related work done earlier or at the same time. Name of the student: Signature: Date: Table of Contents statement 2 Table of Contents 3 Gratification and uses Theory (use of social Media) 4 Introduction 4 Main argument or hypothesis 4 Children should get involved in the social media for the development of their social education. 5 Gratification and uses Theory 5 Outcome 9 Analysis 10 Conclusion 11 Bibliography 12 Chandler, Daniel. Why do People Watch Television? December 30, 2010 12 Communication Theory, 2010, uses and gratification theory, retrieved o December 12, 2010 from, . 13 Why do People Watch Television? 2010, Uses and Gratifications. Retrieved on 12 December, 2010, from 13 Gratification and uses Theory (use of social Media) Introduction Improved level of growth and development in mass media plays a greater role in bringing people together. The current growth in media, particularly in the social concept has been significant. Theories have been developed that explain the effects media on people. Gratification theory is one such theory. It explains how people use media to meet their needs and gratification. This theory is considered as a popular approach to the understanding of mass communication especially in the social media. It focuses on the audience or consumers instead of the real message by focusing only on what people do with media and not what media does to people. This theory is relevant in the mediums of the social media like Yahoo, You Tube, face book, MySpace among the others. The theory focuses on some of the reasons why people use given media rather than the actual content (Chandler 6). Main argument or hypothesis Uses and gratification theory is essential in the selection of the best media to rely on. Social Medias are important in ensuring the stability in the social status of the individuals involved Children should get involved in the social media for the development of their social education. Gratification and uses Theory Uses and gratification theory considers a more humanistic approach while focusing on the uses of media especially in the social aspects. According to the theory, the consumers of the media are free to make decisions concerning ways of using media and the effects they are expecting. It contradicts with the magic theory that argues that media audiences are passive and decides what the media should offer to them but not what to do with the media. According to the Uses and gratification theory, choice what to do with the available medium of media rather than waiting to receive anything from the media. The theory serves the function of linking need gratifications and choice of media on the side of the audience members. It portrays the need of people to choose an appropriate medium which best satisfies the needs and desires (LaRose & Eastin, 2004) The list of the needs and desires of people in their social context is also increasing thus the need to come up with many solutions as possible. The mediums of the social media like Face book and You Tube are very common and of mutual benefit interaction of the individuals as well as their communication. The face book sites are considered to increase the social network because people are in a position to interact with the others and share ideas. People join the cites with the intention of having their needs to gain more information as well as socialize with others be fulfilled (Scharnetzki 4-5). The users of face book post their comments and ideas on the wall to be shared among all the friends within the shortest time possible, others may even create good relationship with their online friends who may end up having positive influence in their lives. The audiences of these sites are very active to interpret as well as amalgamate media in their daily lives and develop their social status. There are many activities that people engage themselves in apart from the social factors like the economic and political factors. These people have no time to visit their friends and discuss issues. They therefore choose media which are able to help them meet their social gratification (Scharnetzki 5). The site connects people in larger geographical areas than most of the traditional mediums like the television and print media. These could mostly be suitable for people within the boundaries of a nation or on the areas whereby the frequencies of the electronic media would reach or to only those who would access the print mediums. Thus the needs or desires of people to be linked to the outside world were not satisfied until the invention of the new and modern social media. People are able to connect and communicate ideas across the world. In You Tube and other common social media like MySpace enables people to communicate or share ideas with the others even without any connection. The interested post their information on the site and cite some links to direct the audiences when accessing it. The desires of the people to acquire knowledge concerning some areas are thus fulfilled (Elkjaer, Bente, 2001). The aim of most of the audiences in the social context is to ensure that they understand the reality of the global market and live it; this has resulted to the biggest transformations. The increase uses of internet are forcing many of the companies and organizations to create or increase in the social networks or online communities. For example, the use of You Tube, Hi5 and Twitter are considered as platforms that the businesses can consider in generation of their sites. Therefore the social media marketing is bringing together various online communities where the main aim is generation of exposure of the online businesses. The interests of many people, organizations and businesses is to get involved with the social networks where they create their profiles and post the ideas they want to share with the other members of the sites. Others have links to their private websites on which the audiences interested in getting information concerning them can access it by clicking on the website (Communication Theory, pp 2). As stated by the uses and gratification theory, the audiences of the social media are very active in getting connected with the others. People from different geographical areas are connected at these sites and be allowed to express their views. In this error of the advanced technology, the sites of social media are increasing with the aim of providing online exposure of the products and the personalities of the individuals. This helps the concern to generate the targeted leads that also helps in finding reliable business partners or social friends. The other aspect of uses and gratification theory is the ability of the social media to entertain its audiences. The viewers are entertained by the posts of the others or even enjoy discovering information concerning some products or history of the prominent people or celebs. People consider these sites of social media as a way of building relationships within themselves and with the others, for example, the time they spent watching inspirational movies through the You Tube or reading inspirational comments of the face book friends makes the audiences feel happy and relieved off life tension in case of any. This blogging can also create a virtual community among the members especially if they are all strangers thus it is considered as a device connecting or linking people and enhancing individual conservation with colleagues and acquaintances. Uses and gratification theory is a good model of communication with more positive views of media. It insists that the viewers should have full control of the media they use depending on the social concept, how they can use it to satisfy their needs and wants. Many researchers on the field have reported that based on the principles of uses and gratification theory, people are able to choose the best social media for their consumption determined by life gratification (Larson, 2009). A study was conducted to two hundred university students in United Kingdom, one hundred students were found to be active users of the social media although it was highly discouraged by the school administration with the assumption that the students would waste a lot of their free time online instead of carrying out other beneficial activities. The other 100 students would have no time to create or access accounts in the social media, they relied on the other mediums such as radio, television, and print as a source of information as well as interaction with their friends in far places. They based their research on the principles of uses and gratification theory that involve: openness, involvement, neuroticism, and conscientiousness to check on the relationship between people and media or its effects on the social life thus enhance the fulfilment of the needs and wants of the social concept. The most common used social media by the sampled students was face book sites. They had accounts in the sites as individuals and groups of whichever ways. They included their personal information that they are willing to share with their friends and for identification purposes. They are very active to post and access what the others post on their walls. These sites serve the purpose of education, entertainment, and informing because by exchanging the ideas people get to learn new idea that may be entertaining and informing. The other group of the students was also in the same level of education as the other although not the same social class. They spent their free time watching or listening to music and considered other medium especially the social media like face book and You Tube as wastage of time. Outcome According to the data collected during the research study, the group involved in the social media was found to be socially stable with as many friends as possible and from all walks of world. Their personality had developed that they could be able to relate with anybody irrespective of the characters and handle them accordingly. They were also found to be very rich in information not only based on the local community but also about the other communities far away. These students were also able to handle all the life situations especially in the social context. The reports of the other group shows that these students are suffering from social instability and the choices of their friends is limited on the factors in common such as social classes, education level and origin. Their knowledge or information they had was limited to the syllabus they covered in school and their community. They also depended on the local media channels such as television and radio as sources of information. They were not able to handle people of all characters but interacted with individuals whose personalities were friendly Analysis Social media played great roles in determining the social conditions of the individuals. This is because the students who have accounts in face book have made many friends and developed ways of maintaining these relationships irrespective of the personalities. The information they access from the profiles of the friends across the world plays great roles in the development of their social stability. They acquire information on how to handle social issues from the information obtained from the walls of the other people; they also get entertained from the interaction. The knowledge of the other group of the students is limited to the information they acquire from the local media like television and radio channels. This requires people to be passive and rely on the information delivered by the mediums. According to the theory of uses and gratification, the audiences should actively participate in determining what benefits to get from the social media to satisfy their needs and desires. It is the desire of every person to make as many friends as possible and acquire more knowledge concerning anything that happens around them. The friends made from physical contacts are likely to have originated from the same society or community thus sharing of having so much in common. This means that one may learn so little from interacting with these people because most of the things that they are likely to share may not be termed as news (Gillin & Moore, 2009). Involving one’s self in the social media creates an opportunity to relate with other people especially those across the boundaries hence acquiring new ideas of doing things. The need to embrace individual passion and identity is fulfilled because a person is only able to fully understand his or her personalities by sharing with the others hence are able to live as an individual. The social media are necessary in the lives of the people although they have criticism because they are more involving than the other mediums hence some individuals may not be able to balance the time they spend on them and on the other important activities. For example, instead of doing physical exercise most of the young people spend their free time online and conversing with friends thus they end up developing their social lives and demolishing their economic status. If done in excess the social networks can provide more information than required or that which is above the social standards of the participants thus it ends up being useless or misleading. This is commonly referred to as Information overload and social networking overload if the individuals have accounts in all networks (Qualman, 2010). Conclusion According to the reports of the study carried out, uses and gratification theory is essential in the selection of the media that one concentrates on for the achievement and satisfaction of the individual needs and desires. The Social Medias have the potential of effectively developing the social knowledge of the individuals by providing a good opportunity of connecting and interacting with different people across the world. They are also able to understand the cultures and customs of the rest of the world hence the principles which are considered in the global world. Bibliography Chandler, Daniel. Why do People Watch Television? December 30, 2010 Scharnetzki, Jens. The Importance of facebook explained for those who do not get it. December30, 2010 LaRose, Robert & Eastin, Matthew, A social cognitive theory of internet Uses and gratification, toward a new model of media attendance: Journal of Broadcasting & electronic media, (48) 3, 358-377, 2004. Elkjaer, Bente, “The Learning organization: An Undelivered Promise” i Management Learning, vol 32(4): 437 – 452, 2001. Communication Theory, 2010, uses and gratification theory, retrieved o December 12, 2010 from, . Why do People Watch Television? 2010, Uses and Gratifications. Retrieved on 12 December, 2010, from Gillin, Paul & Moore, Geoffrey. The New Influencers: A Marketer's Guide to the New Social Media, Basingstoke: Linden Publishing, 2009. Qualman, Erik, Socialnomics: How Social Media Transforms the Way We Live and Do Business. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2010. Larson, Charles, Persuasion: Reception and Responsibility, Oklahoma: Cengage Learning, 2009. 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