Uses & Gratification Part Two

          Uses & Gratification

About:  Blulmer and Kat’z uses and gratification theory suggests that media users play an important part in choosing and using the different aspects of media. This theory suggests that as a media user seeks a source which meets both the wants and needs of the user. We are becoming more active media users; we want more ways to interact with the media. (3D and Surround Sound make films more interactive)

The Needs That Have To Be Met:

-Diversion (Escaping from life)

-Personal Relationships (Talking about it to someone afterwards)

-Surveillance (Looking)

-Personal Identity (Feeling a belonging)

Diversion: Where a user feels the need to escape from everyday life and relax. It is important as it provides society and culture with unique and inspirational perspectives. Diversity can create new ideas and changes that can be beneficial to a society, or even the world.

Personal Relationships: people use the media to fulfil their need for companionship and to form a relationship with others.  (To be part of a social group within society)

Surveillance:  This is where the media is used to find out what is happening in society around us. For example, a music magazine can be sued to find out the latest chart and about the social life of different celebrities.

Personal Identity: Sometimes members of society can use the media to find out about themselves. Sometimes the way people are presented can reflect us.

Personal Relationships- This allows you to keep up to date and find out all about different things going on with celebrity’s lives. From this you will be formed in to a social group in which you can chat about what you’ve found out. In this case, the magazine contains a quote from Selena Gomez saying “I have to sacrifice things for love” and inside the magazine it will be explained further and from this the viewer can go on to tell their friends about the information they’ve found out.

Personal Identity- In magazines, the images selected often reflect the reader and how they may be influenced by the celebrity. For instance in this magazine the image of Katy Perry and what she is wearing reflects how the viewer dresses or how they are influenced to dress.

Surveillance- Allows the viewer to find out information on the celebrities personal life and in this case we can find out what “He hadn’t told” Katy Perry as she reveals all, inside the magazine.

Diversion- Allows the viewer to escape from everyday life and just focus on something else i.e. someone else’s problems. Problems pages nowadays are not there to help with problems, they’re there to make the reader feel better about themselves as they compare their life to the other person’s life who has the problem and thinks of theirs as better. In this case, you can view people’s problems and how Dappy would go about them.