Uses and Gratifications Theory

The uses and gratifications theory is an extremely popular approach to understanding mass communication. It is primarily focused on the perspective of the consumer, rather than a message.

The ideology of uses and gratifications is that audience members are not passive, but do take an active role in the interpretation and integration of different media types and their own lives. The theory suggests that audiences are responsible for the way in which media acts in terms of meeting the consumer needs, putting full control to the audience.

Theory Model

When we choose a media form, uses and gratifications must fulfill one of the following;

• Identity - the ability to recognise the product or individual in front of you.
• Educate - the ability to acquire information, knowledge and understanding.
• Entertain - consumers should enjoy the product that they are consuming, and also a form of escapism, allowing us to forget our worries momentarily.
• Social Interaction - media types have, for a long time, held the ability to produce a topic for conversation within the audience, i.e. who was voted out of Britain's Got Talent.

Uses and gratifications can be seen in many a media types, including music selection. The modern day consumer chooses their music not only depending on the mood they are in at the time, but in order to display some form of belonging, and to some degree, empowerment, or other socially conscience motives.

Internet

Developments in the internet over the past decade have dictated our perception of the uses and gratification theory. The reason for this comes in many forms, including the use of search engines, social media, video streaming and wiki's.

• Search Engines - Online search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and Bing have allowed us to access any webpage on the internet, which allows us to move closer to our idols or role models.
• Social Media - Social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter and MySpace have allowed us to socialise whilst online, allowing a great deal more connectivity and togetherness. MySpace especially has impacted on the music industry, because, it allows artists to share videos of themselves to the world, to be discovered, and since many have including Adele.
• Video Streaming - YouTube, BBC iPlayer and Channel 4 on Demand are just a few video streaming sites that allow us to access entertainment whenever we please. YouTube inparticularly   has allowed us to access a world of established, as well as the up and coming, artists, and many, like MySpace, have been discovered via YouTube, and went on to become global hit, such as Justin Bieber. 
• Wiki's - Wikipedia, is the worlds online encyclopedia and is jammed full of wiki's (online information pages) on millions of topics, it is also completely free and can be corrected/updated, as well as being 100% accessible, 100% of the time.