An Examination of the Role of the Communicator on Gratifications Attained on Social Network Sites
Keywords:
Uses and gratification, social networking sites, communicator,Abstract
The many features available on social network sites complicate interpretation of research results in uses and gratifications studies. This paper proposes a perspective that focuses on the communication role of the user that may promote greater understanding of uses and gratifications results, and applies its use. Results of this analysis suggest that our understanding of uses and gratifications based on survey research questions will benefit from distinguishing between user role as a message source or receiver. More specifically, results of this analysis found the communication role of the user was able to predict certain social network site gratifications. While results were promising, additional research should be conducted to refine these categorizations for predicting media gratifications.References
Abelman, R., & Atkin, D. (2000). What children watch when they watch TV: Putting theory into practice. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44(1), 143-154.
Althaus, S. L., & Tewksbury, D. (2000). Patterns of Internet and traditional news media use in a networked community. Political Communication, 17, 21-45.
Ancu, M., & Cozma, R. (2009). Myspace politics: Uses and gratifications of befriending candidates. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53(4), 567-583.
Baym, N. K. (2002). Interpersonal life online. In L.A. Lievrouw & S. Livingstone (Eds.), Handbook of new media: Social shaping and consequences of ICTs. (pp. 62-72). London: Sage.
Bonds-Raacke, J., & Raacke, J. (2010). MySpace and Facebook: Identifying dimensions of uses and gratifications for friend networking sites. Individual Differences Research, 8(1), 27-33.
Boyd, D., & Ellison N. B., (2008). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 210-230.
Bryant, E., & Marmo, J. (2009). Relational Maintenance Strategies on Facebook. Conference Papers -- National Communication Association, 1. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Butt, S., & Phillips, J. G. (2008). Personality and self reported mobile phone use. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(2), 346–360.
Canary, D. J., & Stafford, L. (1994). Maintaining relationships through strategic and routine interaction. In D. J. Canary & L. Stafford (Eds.), Communication and Relational Maintenance (pp. 3-22). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Cantril, H. (1942). Professor quiz: A gratifications study. In P.F. Lazarsfeld & F. Stanton(Eds.), Radio research 1941 (pp. 34-45). New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce.
Chamberlain, M. A. (1994). New technologies in health communication. American Behavioral Scientist, 38, 271–284.
Charney, T. R. (1996). Uses and gratifications of the Internet (Master’s Thesis). Retrieved from Masters Abstracts International. (35, 0612).
Charney, T.R., & Greenberg, B.S. (2002). Uses and gratifications of the Internet. In C.A. Lin & D. Atkin (Eds.), Communication technology and society: Audience adoption and uses. (pp. 379-407). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.
Christopher, A. N., & Schlenker, B. R. (2000). The impact of perceived material wealth and perceiver personality on first impressions. Journal of Economic Psychology, 21, 1-19.
Clark, H., & Brennan, S. (1991). Grounding in Communication. In L. B. Resnick, J. M. Levine, and S. D. Teasley (Eds.), Perspectives on Socially-Shared Cognition. Washington, DC: APA.
Clark, H., & Schaefer, E. (1989). Collaborating on Contributions to Conversations. In R. Dietrich and C. F. Graumann (Eds.), Language Processing in Social Context. (pp. 19-41) North-Holland: Elsevier Science Publishers.
Daly-Jones, O., Monk, A., Frohlich, D.M., Geelhoed E., & Loughran S. (1997). Multimodal messages: The pen and voice opportunity. Interacting with Computers, 9, 1-25.
DeFleur, M. L., Davenport, L., Cronin, M., & DeFleur, M. H. (1992). Audience Recall of News Stories Presented by Newspaper, Computer, Television and Radio. Journalism Quarterly, 69(4), 1010 - 1022.
Dizard, W. (1994). Old Media, New Media. New York, New York: Longman.
Eveland,W.P., Jr. (2003). A “Mix of Attributes”Approach to the Study of Media Effects and New Communication Technologies. Journal of Communication, 53(3), 395–410.
Flanagin, A. J., & Metzger, M. J. (2001). Internet use in the contemporary media environment. Human Communication Research, 27(1), 153-181.
Ferguson, D. A., & Perse, E. M. (2000). The World Wide Web as a functional alternative to television. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44(2), 155-174.
Frohlich, D. M. (1995). Requirements for Interpersonal Information Management. in P. J. Thomas (Ed.), Personal information systems. (pp. 133-153.) Cheltenham, UK: Stanley Thornes.
Greenberg, B. S., Sherry, J. L., Lachlan, K., Lucas, K., & Holmstrom, A. J. (2010). Orientations to video games among gender and age groups. Simulation & Gaming, 41, 238-259.
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.
Hertel, G., Schroer, J., Batinic, B., Konradt, U., & Naumann, S. (2005). Kommunizieren schüchterne Menschen lieber per E-Mail? Einflüsse der Persönlichkeit auf die Präferenz von Kommunikationsmedien [Do the shy prefer e-mail communication? Impact of personality on preferences for communication media]. In K.-H. Renner, A. Schütz, & F. Machilek (Eds.), Internet und Persönlichkeit. (pp. 134-147). Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe.
Hill, S., Provost, F., & Volinsky, C. (2006). Network-Based Marketing: Identifying Likely Adopters via Consumer Networks. Statistical Science, 21(2) 256-276.
Hwang, H. S., & Lombard, M. (2006). Understanding instant messaging: Gratifications and social presence. Paper presented at the 9th Annual PRESENCE Conference, Cleveland, OH. Paper retrieved from http://www.temple.edu/ispr/prev_conferences/proceedings/2006/Hwang%20and%20Lombard.pdf
Inside Facebook (2010, September 1). The New York Times Is Latest Newspaper to Tightly Integrate Facebook. Retrieved from http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/09/01/new-york-times-facebook-login- social- plugins/
James, M. L., Wotring, C. E., & Forrest, E. J. (1995). An exploratory study of the perceived benefits of electronic bulletin board use and their impact on other communication activities. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 39, 30-50.
Jeffres, L., & Atkin, D. (1996). Predicting use of technologies for communication and consumer needs. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 40, 318–330.
Joinson, A. N. (2008). Looking at, looking up or keeping up with people? Motives and use of Facebook. Proceedings of CHI ’08. (pp. 1027-1036). New York, NY: ACM.
Katz, E., Adoni, I. & Parness, P. (1977). Remembering the news: what the picture adds to recall. Journalism Quarterly, 54, 231-239.
Katz, E., Blumler, J., & Gurevitch, M. (1974). Utilization of mass communication by the individual. In J. Blumler, & E. Katz (Eds.), The uses of mass communications: current perspectives. (pp. 19-32). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Lampe, C., Ellison, N., & Steinfield, C., (2006). A Face(book) in the crowd: Social searching vs. social browsing. Proceedings of the 2006 20th Anniversary Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. (pp. 167-170). New York: ACM Press.
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.
Leung, L. (2003). College student motives for chatting on ICQ. New Media & Society, 3(4), 483-500.
Lin, C. A. (1999). Uses and gratifications. In G. Stone, M. Singletary, & V.P. Richmond (Eds.), Clarifying communication theories (pp. 199-208). Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
Machilek, F., Schütz, A., & Marcus, B. (2004). Selbstdarsteller oder Menschen wie du und ich? Intentionen und Persönlichkeitsmerkmale von Homepagebesitzer/inn/en. [Self-presenters, or people like you and me? Intentions and personality traits of owners of personal Web sites?]. Zeitschrift für Medienpsychologie, 16(3), 88–98.
Martinez, J. (2010). Marketing to a community. CRM Magazine, 14(6), 30-35.
Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The self online: The utility of personal home pages. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 46, 346-368.
Papacharissi, Z., & Rubin, A. M. (2000). Predictors of Internet use. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44, 175-196.
Parks, M. R., & Floyd, K. (1996). Making friends in cyberspace. Journal of Communication, 46(1), 80-97.
Payne, G. A., Severn, J. H., & Dozier, D. M. (1988). Uses and gratifications motives as indicators of magazine readership. Journalism Quarterly, 65, 909-913.
Ping, R. A. (2004). On Assuring Valid Measures for Theoretical Models Using Survey Data. Journal of Business Research, 57(2), 125–41.
Quan-Haase, A. & Young, A. (2010). Uses and Gratifications of Social Media: A Comparison of Facebook and Instant Messaging. Bulletin of Science Technology and Society, 30(5), 350-361.
Raacke, J. D. & Bonds-Raacke, J. M. (2008). MySpace & Facebook: Applying the uses and gratifications theory to exploring friend networking sites. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 11, 169-174.
Rosengren, K. E. (1974). Uses and gratifications: A paradigm outlined. In J. G. Blumler & E. Katz (Eds.), The uses of mass communications: Current perspectives of gratifications research. (pp. 269–286). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Ross, C., Orr, E. S., Sisic, M., Arseneault, J. M., Simmering, M. G., & Orr, R. R. (2009). Personality and motivations associated with Facebook use. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(2), 578–586.
Rubin, A. M. (1981a). An examination of television viewing motivations. Communication Research, 8(2), 141-165.
Rubin, A. M. (1983). Television uses and gratifications: The interaction of viewing patterns and motivations. Journal of Broadcasting, 27, 37-51.
Rubin, A. M., & Perse, E. M. (1987b). Audience activity and television news gratifications. Communication Research, 14(1), 58-84.
Ruggiero, T.E. (2000). Uses and Gratifications Theory in the 21st Century, Mass Communication & Society, 3(1), 3-37.
Schau, H.J & Gilly, M.C. (2003). “We are what we post? Self-presentation in personal web space. The Journal of Consumer Research, 30(3) 385-404.
Segerstad, Y. H. A. & Ljungstrand, P. (2002). Instant Messaging With WebWho. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 56(1), 147-171.
Shang, R., Chen, Y., Liao, H. (2006). The value of participation in virtual consumer communities on brand loyalty. Internet Research, 16(4), 398-418.
Sheldon, P. (2008). Student favorite: Facebook & motives for its use. Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, 23, 39-55.
Stafford, L., Kline, S. L. & Dimmick, J. (1999). Home e-mail: Relational maintenance and gratification opportunities. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 43(4), 659-669.
Vonk, R. (1999). Impression formation and impression management: Motives, traits, and likeability inferred from self-promoting and self deprecating behavior. Social Cognition, 17, 390-412.
Vorderer, P., Klimmt, C., & Ritterfeld, U. (2004). Enjoyment: At the heart of media entertainment. Communication Theory, 14, 388–408.
Williams, F., Rice, R. E., & Rogers, E. M. (1988). Research methods and the new media. New York: Free Press.
Windahl, S. (1981). Uses and gratifications at the crossroads. Mass Communication Review Yearbook, 2, 174–185.
Wright, K., Craig, E., Cunningham, C., Igiel, M., & Ploeger, N. (2008). Will you (still) be my friend? Computer-mediated relational maintenance on Facebook.com. Conference papers – National Communication Association, Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Wyatt, K. & Phillips, J. G., (2005). Internet use and misuse in the workplace. Proceedings of OZCHI 2005, 25, 23-25.
Althaus, S. L., & Tewksbury, D. (2000). Patterns of Internet and traditional news media use in a networked community. Political Communication, 17, 21-45.
Ancu, M., & Cozma, R. (2009). Myspace politics: Uses and gratifications of befriending candidates. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 53(4), 567-583.
Baym, N. K. (2002). Interpersonal life online. In L.A. Lievrouw & S. Livingstone (Eds.), Handbook of new media: Social shaping and consequences of ICTs. (pp. 62-72). London: Sage.
Bonds-Raacke, J., & Raacke, J. (2010). MySpace and Facebook: Identifying dimensions of uses and gratifications for friend networking sites. Individual Differences Research, 8(1), 27-33.
Boyd, D., & Ellison N. B., (2008). Social network sites: Definition, history, and scholarship. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 13, 210-230.
Bryant, E., & Marmo, J. (2009). Relational Maintenance Strategies on Facebook. Conference Papers -- National Communication Association, 1. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Butt, S., & Phillips, J. G. (2008). Personality and self reported mobile phone use. Computers in Human Behavior, 24(2), 346–360.
Canary, D. J., & Stafford, L. (1994). Maintaining relationships through strategic and routine interaction. In D. J. Canary & L. Stafford (Eds.), Communication and Relational Maintenance (pp. 3-22). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.
Cantril, H. (1942). Professor quiz: A gratifications study. In P.F. Lazarsfeld & F. Stanton(Eds.), Radio research 1941 (pp. 34-45). New York: Duell, Sloan & Pearce.
Chamberlain, M. A. (1994). New technologies in health communication. American Behavioral Scientist, 38, 271–284.
Charney, T. R. (1996). Uses and gratifications of the Internet (Master’s Thesis). Retrieved from Masters Abstracts International. (35, 0612).
Charney, T.R., & Greenberg, B.S. (2002). Uses and gratifications of the Internet. In C.A. Lin & D. Atkin (Eds.), Communication technology and society: Audience adoption and uses. (pp. 379-407). Cresskill, NJ: Hampton.
Christopher, A. N., & Schlenker, B. R. (2000). The impact of perceived material wealth and perceiver personality on first impressions. Journal of Economic Psychology, 21, 1-19.
Clark, H., & Brennan, S. (1991). Grounding in Communication. In L. B. Resnick, J. M. Levine, and S. D. Teasley (Eds.), Perspectives on Socially-Shared Cognition. Washington, DC: APA.
Clark, H., & Schaefer, E. (1989). Collaborating on Contributions to Conversations. In R. Dietrich and C. F. Graumann (Eds.), Language Processing in Social Context. (pp. 19-41) North-Holland: Elsevier Science Publishers.
Daly-Jones, O., Monk, A., Frohlich, D.M., Geelhoed E., & Loughran S. (1997). Multimodal messages: The pen and voice opportunity. Interacting with Computers, 9, 1-25.
DeFleur, M. L., Davenport, L., Cronin, M., & DeFleur, M. H. (1992). Audience Recall of News Stories Presented by Newspaper, Computer, Television and Radio. Journalism Quarterly, 69(4), 1010 - 1022.
Dizard, W. (1994). Old Media, New Media. New York, New York: Longman.
Eveland,W.P., Jr. (2003). A “Mix of Attributes”Approach to the Study of Media Effects and New Communication Technologies. Journal of Communication, 53(3), 395–410.
Flanagin, A. J., & Metzger, M. J. (2001). Internet use in the contemporary media environment. Human Communication Research, 27(1), 153-181.
Ferguson, D. A., & Perse, E. M. (2000). The World Wide Web as a functional alternative to television. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44(2), 155-174.
Frohlich, D. M. (1995). Requirements for Interpersonal Information Management. in P. J. Thomas (Ed.), Personal information systems. (pp. 133-153.) Cheltenham, UK: Stanley Thornes.
Greenberg, B. S., Sherry, J. L., Lachlan, K., Lucas, K., & Holmstrom, A. J. (2010). Orientations to video games among gender and age groups. Simulation & Gaming, 41, 238-259.
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.
Hertel, G., Schroer, J., Batinic, B., Konradt, U., & Naumann, S. (2005). Kommunizieren schüchterne Menschen lieber per E-Mail? Einflüsse der Persönlichkeit auf die Präferenz von Kommunikationsmedien [Do the shy prefer e-mail communication? Impact of personality on preferences for communication media]. In K.-H. Renner, A. Schütz, & F. Machilek (Eds.), Internet und Persönlichkeit. (pp. 134-147). Göttingen, Germany: Hogrefe.
Hill, S., Provost, F., & Volinsky, C. (2006). Network-Based Marketing: Identifying Likely Adopters via Consumer Networks. Statistical Science, 21(2) 256-276.
Hwang, H. S., & Lombard, M. (2006). Understanding instant messaging: Gratifications and social presence. Paper presented at the 9th Annual PRESENCE Conference, Cleveland, OH. Paper retrieved from http://www.temple.edu/ispr/prev_conferences/proceedings/2006/Hwang%20and%20Lombard.pdf
Inside Facebook (2010, September 1). The New York Times Is Latest Newspaper to Tightly Integrate Facebook. Retrieved from http://www.insidefacebook.com/2010/09/01/new-york-times-facebook-login- social- plugins/
James, M. L., Wotring, C. E., & Forrest, E. J. (1995). An exploratory study of the perceived benefits of electronic bulletin board use and their impact on other communication activities. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 39, 30-50.
Jeffres, L., & Atkin, D. (1996). Predicting use of technologies for communication and consumer needs. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 40, 318–330.
Joinson, A. N. (2008). Looking at, looking up or keeping up with people? Motives and use of Facebook. Proceedings of CHI ’08. (pp. 1027-1036). New York, NY: ACM.
Katz, E., Adoni, I. & Parness, P. (1977). Remembering the news: what the picture adds to recall. Journalism Quarterly, 54, 231-239.
Katz, E., Blumler, J., & Gurevitch, M. (1974). Utilization of mass communication by the individual. In J. Blumler, & E. Katz (Eds.), The uses of mass communications: current perspectives. (pp. 19-32). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Lampe, C., Ellison, N., & Steinfield, C., (2006). A Face(book) in the crowd: Social searching vs. social browsing. Proceedings of the 2006 20th Anniversary Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work. (pp. 167-170). New York: ACM Press.
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.
Leung, L. (2003). College student motives for chatting on ICQ. New Media & Society, 3(4), 483-500.
Lin, C. A. (1999). Uses and gratifications. In G. Stone, M. Singletary, & V.P. Richmond (Eds.), Clarifying communication theories (pp. 199-208). Ames, IA: Iowa State University Press.
Machilek, F., Schütz, A., & Marcus, B. (2004). Selbstdarsteller oder Menschen wie du und ich? Intentionen und Persönlichkeitsmerkmale von Homepagebesitzer/inn/en. [Self-presenters, or people like you and me? Intentions and personality traits of owners of personal Web sites?]. Zeitschrift für Medienpsychologie, 16(3), 88–98.
Martinez, J. (2010). Marketing to a community. CRM Magazine, 14(6), 30-35.
Nunnally, J. (1978). Psychometric theory. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Papacharissi, Z. (2002). The self online: The utility of personal home pages. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 46, 346-368.
Papacharissi, Z., & Rubin, A. M. (2000). Predictors of Internet use. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 44, 175-196.
Parks, M. R., & Floyd, K. (1996). Making friends in cyberspace. Journal of Communication, 46(1), 80-97.
Payne, G. A., Severn, J. H., & Dozier, D. M. (1988). Uses and gratifications motives as indicators of magazine readership. Journalism Quarterly, 65, 909-913.
Ping, R. A. (2004). On Assuring Valid Measures for Theoretical Models Using Survey Data. Journal of Business Research, 57(2), 125–41.
Quan-Haase, A. & Young, A. (2010). Uses and Gratifications of Social Media: A Comparison of Facebook and Instant Messaging. Bulletin of Science Technology and Society, 30(5), 350-361.
Raacke, J. D. & Bonds-Raacke, J. M. (2008). MySpace & Facebook: Applying the uses and gratifications theory to exploring friend networking sites. CyberPsychology and Behavior, 11, 169-174.
Rosengren, K. E. (1974). Uses and gratifications: A paradigm outlined. In J. G. Blumler & E. Katz (Eds.), The uses of mass communications: Current perspectives of gratifications research. (pp. 269–286). Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
Ross, C., Orr, E. S., Sisic, M., Arseneault, J. M., Simmering, M. G., & Orr, R. R. (2009). Personality and motivations associated with Facebook use. Computers in Human Behavior, 25(2), 578–586.
Rubin, A. M. (1981a). An examination of television viewing motivations. Communication Research, 8(2), 141-165.
Rubin, A. M. (1983). Television uses and gratifications: The interaction of viewing patterns and motivations. Journal of Broadcasting, 27, 37-51.
Rubin, A. M., & Perse, E. M. (1987b). Audience activity and television news gratifications. Communication Research, 14(1), 58-84.
Ruggiero, T.E. (2000). Uses and Gratifications Theory in the 21st Century, Mass Communication & Society, 3(1), 3-37.
Schau, H.J & Gilly, M.C. (2003). “We are what we post? Self-presentation in personal web space. The Journal of Consumer Research, 30(3) 385-404.
Segerstad, Y. H. A. & Ljungstrand, P. (2002). Instant Messaging With WebWho. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 56(1), 147-171.
Shang, R., Chen, Y., Liao, H. (2006). The value of participation in virtual consumer communities on brand loyalty. Internet Research, 16(4), 398-418.
Sheldon, P. (2008). Student favorite: Facebook & motives for its use. Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, 23, 39-55.
Stafford, L., Kline, S. L. & Dimmick, J. (1999). Home e-mail: Relational maintenance and gratification opportunities. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 43(4), 659-669.
Vonk, R. (1999). Impression formation and impression management: Motives, traits, and likeability inferred from self-promoting and self deprecating behavior. Social Cognition, 17, 390-412.
Vorderer, P., Klimmt, C., & Ritterfeld, U. (2004). Enjoyment: At the heart of media entertainment. Communication Theory, 14, 388–408.
Williams, F., Rice, R. E., & Rogers, E. M. (1988). Research methods and the new media. New York: Free Press.
Windahl, S. (1981). Uses and gratifications at the crossroads. Mass Communication Review Yearbook, 2, 174–185.
Wright, K., Craig, E., Cunningham, C., Igiel, M., & Ploeger, N. (2008). Will you (still) be my friend? Computer-mediated relational maintenance on Facebook.com. Conference papers – National Communication Association, Retrieved from EBSCOhost.
Wyatt, K. & Phillips, J. G., (2005). Internet use and misuse in the workplace. Proceedings of OZCHI 2005, 25, 23-25.
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