Uses and Gratification Theory

The Uses and Gratifications Theory is an approach to understanding why and how people actively seek out specific media to satisfy their specific needs. The following people are the theorists who helped create the modern day theory:

Herzog – 1944 – First started the theory based on previous research​

Jay Blulmer – 1969 – Built on Herzog's research

Michael Gurevitch - 1973-1974 – Built on Herzog's research​

Elihu Katz – 1973 -1974 – Built on Herzog's resear

There are 5 key points/reasons why people have a psychological need for the media: ​

-To be informed or educated​

-Identify with characters of the situation in the media environment​

-Simple entertainment​

-Enhance social interaction​

-Escape from the stresses of daily life​

Tide

The ad educates the audience on the product​

The woman on the ad looks to be the typical 1950’s housewife, this allows housewives to identify with the ad​

The ad provides a comic strip for simple entertainment which the audience could further identify with​

The comic strip provides interaction with the product​

It suggest unrealistic cleaning standards of perfect whitening 

News

Companies that disperse news to the audience such as newspapers, news websites, magazines and TV programmes are successful because of the audience's need for information. This is part of the Uses and Gratification theory. ​

News companies will pick out certain stories that come across as 'extreme' or unusual. This is the producer playing on uses and gratification theory by creating 'click bate' ​

Reality TV

Another example of uses and gratification theory is reality TV. Reality TV provides the audience with a way of escaping the real world and immersing themselves in an idealized world which is staged by producers*. It is usually simple entertainment that the audience can identify.

* "All representation of people and places in any media product are constructions of reality, not reality itself." - Stuart Hall

Limitations of the Uses and Gratification Theory

Research implications are that Uses and Gratifications theory only has specific relevance to social media. Uses and gratifications theory helps explain the many and varied reasons why consumers use social media.