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1. APPLYING THE USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY 1
Running head: APPLYING THE USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY
Applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory to Social Networking Sites:
A Review of Related Literature
Augustin J. Gallion
Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne

2. APPLYING THE USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY 2
Applying The Uses and Gratifications Theory to Social Networking Sites: A Review of Related
Literature
Ruggiero (2000) predicted through research that the Internet will be transformative,
leading to “profound changes in media users’ personal and social habits and roles” (p. 28).
Ruggiero was right in his prediction. Personal social interaction with friends, family, and
professional contacts has transformed itself from the offline realm into an online entity due to the
increasing popularity of social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube,
Twitter and various blogging sites. According to Raacke and Bonds-Raacke, SNSs are “virtual
places that cater to a specific population,” thus creating a community many are unable to find
outside of an online setting (2008, p. 169). According to Ellison, Steinfield, and Lampe (2007),
SNSs range from professional networking sites, romantic dating sites, friend-networking sites, to
even sites that promote bands and politicians (p.1).
Having become one the most popular SNS, Facebook reported having 67 million users in
2008 (Park, Kerk, & Valenzuela, 2009, p. 729), which is 58 million more users than reported in
2006 (Raacke & Bonds-Raacke, 2008, p. 169). Politics have recently found the power of SNSs
as a media-format, having mastered MySpace and Facebook in the 2008 Presidential Election
(Ancu & Cozma, 2009, p. 567). Sweetser, Porter, Chung, and Kim (2008) stated that in a recent
study, readers are finding bloggers to be more trustworthy than traditional media, which is
causing controversy in what the academic world considers credible (p. 169). Due to the recent
presence and growth of SNSs, mass communication researchers are using the Uses and
Gratifications Theory (U&G) to provide an explanation as to why users find this new form of
media to be so enticing.

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Applying the U&G Theory to SNSs is of vital importance in today’s mass
communication research because this form of mass media is relatively new in relation to radio,
television, and film. The following research is the most comprehensive in relation to U&G;
specifically with Facebook, Myspace, YouTube, and blogging. In reviewing the following
literature, the most striking factors of the U&G in relation to SNSs were found by Park, Kee, and
Valenzuela (2009) and LaRose and Eastin (2004). Park et al. (2009) found the major uses and
gratification factors of SNS users to be: socializing, entertainment, self-status seeking, and
information (p. 731); LaRose and Eastin (2004) found similar factors like the need for
information-seeking, entertainment, and social needs to be the most prevalent (p. 360-361).
These factors will construct the umbrella of main topics for research within all the following
literature.
Socializing
The social component is the central (and most important element) in applying the U&G
model to SNSs. Users who participate in SNSs in order to gratify socializing needs typically
desire to meet new people, sustain offline relationships, and create a sense of community (Ellison
et al., 2007, p. 2; Park et al., 2009, p. 731). Research by Raacke and Bonds-Raacke (2008) found
that 96.0 percent of users used SNSs to keep in touch with old friends, 91.1 percent to maintain
existing relationships, and 56.4 percent to find new friends (p. 171). Raacke and Bonds-Raacke
(2008) also stated that the more a user frequents a SNS, “the greater the likelihood his or her
social well-being” (p. 170). YouTube offers a variety of social outcomes as well. According to
Haridakis and Hanson (2008), their research shows that through YouTube, the opportunity for
sharing opinions and emotions via videos suggests “interpersonal motives such as inclusion,
affection, and control” which can motivate social means (p. 318).

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The most striking research in SNS socializing was studied by Ellison et al. (2007) in
which they conducted 800 surveys amongst Michigan State University (MSU) undergraduate
students regarding their use of Facebook (p. 6). In their findings, Ellison et al. (2007) found that
of all respondents, the average student had between 150 to 200 friends (p. 13). Of these friends,
97 percent were former high school friends, 90 percent of were classmates, and 80 percent were
total strangers at MSU (p. 14). The major factors in relation to U&G Theory in their research
provided most of their studied Facebook users gaining gratification from maintaining social
bonds with existing offline relationships versus finding new friends (p. 22).
Entertainment
Park et al. (2009) found that entertainment gratification amongst SNS users pertained
solely to leisure and amusement needs (p. 731). In using the U&G Theory model, Haridakis and
Hanson (2008) found in their study that socially active, young males used YouTube as a ready
form of entertainment, using YouTube to fulfill entertainment needs such as thrill-seeking and
information-seeking (p. 329). Haridakis and Hanson (2008) were not surprised by their findings,
relating this finding to earlier U&G hypotheses involving television and film (p. 330). However,
YouTube adds a new characteristic to spectatorship by allowing interactive socializing between
users, who therefore gain socialization through entertainment (Haridakis & Hanson, 2008, p.
330).
Self-Status Seeking
Personal statuses through SNSs are actively sought out by users of these sites (Park et al.,
2009, p. 731). Respondents to the study conducted by Park et al. (2009, p 731) found that they
used Facebook groups in order to present themselves as cool or to develop their career. Tufekci

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(2008) explains how SNSs center around the user’s profile – or the “person” they decide to
present themselves as (p. 545). In describing the components of SNS profiles, Tufekci (2008)
stated:
All SNS allow users to articulate their social network via links between their profile
page and other profiles. Profiles linked to each other in this manner are
called friends. Profile owners also express an online persona through pictures,
words and page composition, as well as through data fields where information
ranging from favourite books and movies to sexual orientation and relationship
status (single, in a relationship, etc.) is indicated (p. 546).
One of the possible gratifications through maintaining an online persona, which is also integrated
with one’s offline persona, is the amount of self-disclosure the SNS user can communicate
(Ellison et al., 2007; Tufekci, 2008, p. 546). Tufecki (2008) proposed there were several
elements to self-presentation via SNS profiles: expressive internet, friendship and social ties,
demographics and location, privacy, and social grooming (p. 547-548). These were the most
important elements considering how the U&G model is applied in relation to SNS self-
representation.
Friendship and social ties are found to represent largely the user’s online presentation
(Tufekci, 2008, p. 547). Walther, Van Der Heide, Kim, Westerman, and Tong (2008) also
studied how self-representation is provided through a user’s friendships. Walther et al. (2008)
found that postings and comments [on a user’s SNS profile or pictures] provided by the user’s
friends represent largely what another perceives the user to be offline (p. 29). This can cause

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problems, especially when considering many employers actively search prospect employees’
Facebook and other SNS sites (Walther et al., 2008, p. 31).
Information
A large amount of SNS users find gratification in the amount of information allotted to
them through SNSs (Park et al., 2009, p. 731). According to Park et al. (2008), Facebook users
seek out information about on- and off-campus events and political and civic issues (p.732).
Two-thirds of all Americans participate in an SNS and nearly half of these users used an SNS to
provide political information during the 2008 Presidential Race (Ancu & Cozma, 2009, p. 570).
MySpace has recently become a major SNS that provided special information for the 2008
Presidential Election, along with allowing the user to “befriend their politician” (Ancu & Cozma,
2009, p. 567). In their study, Ancu and Cozma (2009) applied the U&G model to political
gratifications of SNS users, focusing on information, entertainment, and social interaction (p.
574). In their findings, Ancu and Cozma (2009) found that in response to seeking out political
information on MySpace, 67 percent of MySpace users chose the SNS because they could
socially interact with their chosen presidential candidate and other political supporters (p. 574-
576).
Blogging is another form of SNS that has proven to become more popular than traditional
means of information media like television and newspapers (Sweetser et al., 2008, p. 169). In
their study, Sweetser et al. (2008) discovered that there is a rising use of “journalists’ and public
relations practitioners’ blogs as a source of credible information for the public” (p. 169).
According to Sweetser et al. (2008), their findings stated that although 23 percent of blog readers

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find them credible (p. 170), the majority of journalists and public relations practitioners find
blogs more credible than the public does (p. 179).
Conclusion and Further Research Suggestions
Uses and Gratification Theory has been criticized in the past due to the individualistic
nature of the model, stating it “makes it difficult to explain or predict beyond the people studied
or to consider the societal implications of media use” (Ruggiero, 2000, p. 12). However, it is
possible that with using the new media format of SNSs, U&G can be once again studied to
prove, or at least theorize, what constructs the user’s desire to seek out SNSs for socialization,
entertainment, self-representation, and information-seeking. All of the literature reviewed has
offered much information in such a short amount of time, considering SNSs are a relatively new
media.
However, with an ever increasing amount of Internet users and those seeking out new
SNSs, there is still much to be researched and written in relation to SNSs and U&G. Further
research should focus less on the youthful, college student and more on the ever increasing
amount of older, adult users who are finding SNSs to maintain the same connections the
younger, college demographic does. Another research study suggestion could be conducted on
the amount of fan users who use SNSs as a way to gratify their admiration of celebrities, many of
which have very successful SNS pages devoted solely to fanatic users.

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References
Ancu, M., & Cozma, R. (2009). Myspace politics: Uses and gratifications of befriending
candidates. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53(4), 567-583.
Ellison, N.B., Steinfield, C., & Lampe, C. (2007). The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social
capital and college students’ use of online social network sites. Journal of Computer-
mediated Communication, 12(4), article 1, 1-29. Retrieved April 10, 2010, from
http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol12/issue4/ellison.html
Haridakis, P., & Hanson, G. (2009). Social interaction and co-viewing with YouTube: Blending
mass communication receptions and social connection. Journal of Broadcasting &
Electronic Media, 53(2), 317-335.
LaRose, R., & Eastin, M.S. (2004). A social cognitive theory of internet uses and gratifications:
Toward a new model of media attendance. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media,
48(3), 358-377.
Park, N., Kee, K., & Valenzuela, S. (2009). Being immersed in social networking environment:
Facebook groups, uses and gratifications, and social outcomes. CyberPsychology &
Behavior, 12(6), 729-733.
Raacke, J., & Bonds-Raacke, J. (2008). MySpace and Facebook: Applying the uses and
gratifications theory to exploring friend-networking sites. CyberPsychology & Behavior,
11(2), 169-174.
Ruggiero, T. (2000). Uses and gratification theory in the 21st
century. Mass Communication &
Society, 3(1), 3-37.

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Sweetser, K.D., Porter, L.V., Chung, D.S., & Kim, E. (2008). Credibility and the use of blogs
among professionals in the communication industry. Journalism & Mass Communication
Quarterly, 85(1), 169-185.
Tufekci, Z. (2008). Grooming, gossip, Facebook and MySpace: What can we learn about these
sites from those who won’t assimilate? Information, Communication & Society, 11(4),
544-564.
Walther, J.B., Van Der Heide, B., Kim, S.Y., Westerman, D., & Tong, S.T. (2008). The role of
friends’ appearance and behavior on evaluations of individuals on Facebook: Are we
known by the company we keep? Human Communication Research, 34, 28-49.