User:Red racer736/Uses and gratifications theory

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On stage 3 where it talked about Rehman's study of applications of UGT previously it had no citation, so I added the correct citation for it. ￼

In the Social media usage section there was no citation before so I gave it one, I couldn't find the exact one that I needed but I found one that might be similar enough to what is already written. A few grammatical errors were fixed as well.

The section about Tic Tok is a new one that was not previously in the old article at the beginning, and it is something that I want to add to it. ￼

There is nothing wrong with the online gaming section of the article I just thought it was a little short and wanted to expand a little further upon it.

Added a section about "white noise" and how that falls in line with the UTG Theory, Which falls in line with the animated news segment since it talks about motives and how they work and it feels a little similar to the white noise segment I added.

Copied from [ Uses and gratifications theory - Wikipedia] Editing for Academic project.

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No edits needed for the lead. ￼

Stage 3: Applications of UGT since the 1980s[edit]
Rehman (1983) [ ]  applied UGT to study the relationship between movie audience expectations and the satisfaction they derived from going to the movies. The following year Alan Rubin identified two main types of television viewers: ritualized (habitual) users and instrumental (non-habitual) users. Rubin defined the ritualized users as individuals who had a high regard for television, used television often, and primarily used it for the purpose of a diversion. Meanwhile, the instrumental users were defined as having a lower regard for television, did not use it often, and when they would use television, it was for the purpose of acquiring information. Mark Levy and Sven Windahl identified 3 types of audience activity which they labeled as preactivity, duractivity, and postactivity. Levy and Windahl described "preactivity" as seeking out certain media to gratify intellectual needs, "duractivity" as focusing on deciphering and interpreting messages, and "postactivity" as seeking out a message for personal or interpersonal benefit.

A year later, in 1985, Levy and Windahl provided a description of what it means to be an "active consumer" of media:"As commonly understood by gratifications researchers, the term 'audience activity' postulates a voluntaristic and selective orientation by audiences toward the communication process. In brief, it suggests that media use is motivated by needs and goals that audience members themselves define, and that active participation in the communication process may facilitate, limit, or otherwise influence the gratifications and effects associated with exposure . Current thinking also suggests that audience activity is best conceptualized as a variable construct, with audiences exhibiting varying kinds and degrees of activity."

Social media usage[edit]
By 2013 research has looked at social networking services, personal and subject-based blogs, and internet forums. The relationship between gratifications and narcissism, and the effects of age on this relationship and these gratifications have also been studied. Overall users have the following motivations:


 * Social and affection
 * Need to vent negative feelings.
 * Recognition
 * Entertainment
 * Cognitive needs

Forums were found to be the main media for venting negative feelings, potentially due to the fact that comparatively, forums are more of a one-way street. The use of social media can cure loneliness and satisfy a compulsion for addictive behaviors. Similar to the variables of gender, location, and audience as previous research has found, the U&G differed by category of narcissism. The researchers found four multi-dimensional narcissistic personality types: feeling authoritative or superior, exhibitionistic, exploitative, and often hungry for vanity. The U&G differed depending on the specific type of narcissism a given user had. For instance, those who were exhibitionistic tended to focus on the social media U&G of showing affection, expressing negative feelings, and being recognized. Those who viewed themselves as superior had higher uses and gratifications by cognitive motivations than by recognition. The vain narcissists were most gratified by recognition and attention, and they did not vent negative feelings. Exhibitionists were motivated by all the gratifications of social media. No generational differences were found in the narcissistic tendencies. [ ]

TIkTok (New section)
Tic-Tok is a video-based social media platform that Zhang Yiming launched in September 2017, and with its recent success, it has gained lots of traction rapidly. It is common knowledge that like every other platform, social media is used to interact with society and the environment around us. The difference between TicTok and other social media platforms is how it relates to the Uses and gratification theory. In terms of gratification this platform offers some things that others do not one example of this is how it is a status update in a short video, not to mention it was also directly advertised to people born in Generation Z as well as anybody who is intrigued by it. According to a study that was done to find out why people use Tic Tok for gratification it stated four main reasons the first being information motive/research, the second being personal identity, the third being social integration and interaction, and the last one is entertainment. All four of these are the main reasons why people use Tic Tok for their gratification but for the majority of the time, people mainly use Tic Tok for social interactions and entertainment.

Online gaming[edit]
This new branch of research explores the U&G of starting to play games online. Achievement, enjoyment and social interaction are all motivations for starting to play an online game, and their success at the game as well as the extent to which their uses were gratified predicted their continuance in playing.

When it comes to online gaming it draws similarities to social media in the way that people use it to interact with society or an online community in this example online community is defined as groups of people who communicate with each other via electronic media, such as the Internet, share goals and ideas, and no any geographical location nor ethnic origin constraints are imposed. In a study done by Chin-Lung Hsu, an online games community is defined as a group of users who interact with each other via Internet, create a fantasy role and develop an online relationship among users, share common interests, and indulge their need for entertainment by playing their own virtual roles. People play multiple online games to fill their gratification when it comes to interacting socially with people whether it is online or in person this fills that role for these kinds of people.

Animated news[edit]
In 2011, a test was conducted with 312 college students to investigate their viewing of animated news. The use of melodramatic animation in news was seen as an emerging technique used in news reporting at the time. The respondents were given 59 statements to rate according to how well each of these statements applies to their viewing of animated news. Factor analysis and hierarchical regression were employed for data analysis.

In the study, seven motives were identified, through factor analysis, for viewing such animated news videos. These motives included companionship, social interaction, relaxation, information seeking, interpersonal learning, entertainment and pass time.


 * Social interaction motive: getting information for facilitating discussion with others
 * Relaxation motive: watching animated news to release pressure and unwind
 * Information-seeking motive: viewing animated news to stay abreast of current events or to search for information
 * Entertainment motive: viewing animated news for amusement and enjoyment
 * Pass time motive: viewing animated news to occupy time or when individuals have nothing better to do
 * Interpersonal learning motive: the desire to understand the minds of friends or significant others by watching the animated news videos that are shared by these individuals
 * Companionship motive: to alleviate loneliness

The results of hierarchical regression analysis suggest predictive relationships among personality characteristics (sensation seeking and locus of control), the seven motives, the effects of perceived news credibility and newsworthiness, and the intention to share such animated news videos with others. Another example of this is "white noise" say for example someone turns on their tv while cooking or preparing dinner. Studies have shown that people do that to make them feel more focused on a certain task, if that example dosent suit your fancy another way to show you how this fits the UTG theory is how some people have ocean noises playing off their phone while they go to sleep. People who have done this have said that when they do this it helps them focus on a certain task. [ ]