Uses and Gratifications Theory :
The Uses and Gratifications approach reminds us that people use media for many purposes. As media users become increasingly confronted with choices, this approach should direct our attention to the audience. Lull's television research found that families used television for communication facilitation, relationship building, intimacy, and for structuring the day. In general researchers have found four kinds of gratifications:
1. Information - We want to find out about society and the world- we want to satisfy our curiosity. This would fit the news and documentaries which both give us a sense that we are learning about the world. Finding out about relevant events and conditions in immediate surroundings, society and the world.
2. Personal Identity - we may watch the television in order to look for models for our behavior. So, for example, we may identify with characters that we see in soap. The characters help us to decide what feel about ourselves and if we agree with their actions and they succeed we feel better about ourselves.
3. Integration and Social Interaction - we use the media in order to find out more about the circumstances of other people. Watching a show helps us to empathize and sympathize with the lives of others so that we may even end up thinking of the characters in programme as friends.
4. Entertainment - sometimes we simply use the media for enjoyment, relaxation or just to fill time. Escaping, or being diverted, from problems.
- getting intrinsic cultural or aesthetic enjoyment
- filling time
- emotional release
It is the theory which explains of how people use media for their need and gratification. In other words we can say this theory states what media does to people and not what people do with media. Also this theory is contradictory to the magic bullet theory which states the audience is passive. According to uses and gratification theory, it is not so people make use of the media for their specific needs. This theory can be said to have a user/audience-centered approach .Even for communication say inter-personal people refer to the media for the topic they discuss with themselves. They gain more knowledge and that is knowledge is got by using media for reference. There are several needs and gratification for people they are categorized into five categories.
Cognitive needs
Affective needs
Personal Integrative needs
Social Integrative needs
Tension free needs
Cognitive needs: People use media for acquiring knowledge, information etc., Among the audience some of them have intellectual needs to acquire knowledge this is not common to all only certain people have their need, each person have a different need for e.g. quiz programs on TV, in order to acquire knowledge and information you will watch news to satisfy the need, search engines in the internet, they make use of these to gain more knowledge. Particularly for the internet search engine they can browse for any topic under the run with no time restriction.
Affective needs: It includes all kinds of emotions, pleasure and other moods of the people. People use media like television to satisfy their emotional needs
The best example is people watch serials and if there is any emotional or sad scene means people used to cry.
Personal Integrative needs:
This is the self-esteem need. People use media to reassure their status, gain credibility and stabilize. so people watch TV and assure themselves that they have a status in society for e.g. people get to improve their status by watching media advertisements like jewelry ad , furniture’s ad and buy products, so the people change their life style and media helps them to do so.
Social Integrative needs:
It encompasses the need to socialize with family, friends and relations in the society. For social interaction now a day’s people do not seems to have social gathering in weekend, instead they do such social interaction using media like the social networking sites like my space, face book, orkut etc to satisfy their need.
Another example is you may not watch the particular serial regularly but because your friend watching, you also start watching so that you have common topics for discussion.
Tension free needs:
People sometimes use the media as a means of escapism and to relieve from tension
For e.g. People tend to relax watching TV, listening to radio and for satisfying their need for entertainment there by relaxing from all the tension, people watch films, films on TV etc
The needs are individual in nature, and how you satisfy the need is individualistic.
E.g.: That’s why some watch news to relax and some get more tension by watching news, Program is same but people use it for different needs.
Taking TV today, most people watch reality shows because
- It is more realistic
- For entertainment
- Interesting
- New concepts (different from other programs)
- In a way you can participate
- Controversy, people crying
- Sensationalism.
The use of retrospective 'self-reports' has several limitations. Viewers may not know why they chose to watch what they did, or may not be able to explain fully. The reasons which can be articulated may be the least important. People may simply offer reasons which they have heard others mention. More promising might be the study of people's engagement with media as it happens. TV viewing can sometimes be seen as aesthetic experience in which intrinsic motivation is involved. This what is been said in this theory about how we use a medium to get to know about the current world. How we select the media and what are the programs to be watched.
