Stromer-Galley, Jennifer

Applying Old Media Theories to New Media: Uses & Gratifications


Abstract

Raymond Williams challenges scholars to develop theory that accommodates the ability of new media to satisfy different needs from older media. Although there are times when new communication technology requires new theory to explain the needs satisfied by new media, there already exists a theory of uses and needs in mass communication scholarship. That theory is uses and gratifications, a useful approach for helping to explain the process of media use and the needs such use satisfies.

In this paper I argue for the utility of applying uses and gratifications theory to new media technology. Uses and gratifications can be helpful, particularly in light of the fact that we still understand little about why people choose to use the Internet for a given purpose, which people use the Internet for which purposes, what they get from such use, and how Internet use factors into the larger media and interpersonal choices that people make. Although uses and gratifications arose as a theory to help explain mass media use, it can be applied to aid in understanding of how and why people use the Internet. As important as it is to understand the content of the Internet, it is equally important to look at how and why people use the Internet, and to what gratifications on the part of the user.

This paper maps out uses and gratifications theory, how it was applied to older media, criticisms of the theory, and how it can be revised to theorize Internet use.