Uses and Gratifications Theory

During the 1960s, it became increasingly apparent to media theorists that audiences made choices about what they did when consuming texts. The Uses and Gratifications theory presents the idea that audiences are made up of individuals who actively consume texts for different reasons and in different ways, usually for their own gratification and pleasure. The theory demonstrates that the audience have the power as it is up to them whether they buy the text or not, whether it be in this case a magazine, film or television show. It is essential that the producers of a media text meet the needs of an intended audience. The consumers have wants and desires, they consume the types of chosen media for individual needs. For example, with a music magazine the producer should make sure they meet the needs of the niche audience who like that particular genre of music they are focusing on. When producing my own magazine I could do this by including artists, features and articles which are specific to the alternative genre. My target audience would gain gratification by reading a magazine which catered for their needs specifically. For example, if they read an article about a rock band's new album.

 In 1948, Lasswell suggested that media texts had four functions for individuals and society. These are: surveillance, entertainment, correlation and cultural transmission. Bulmer and Katz expanded the theory in 1974 and said there were four main reasons as to why audience may want to consume media texts. This may be for diversion, escaping from a person’s regular routine and everyday problems; personal relationships, using media for emotional interaction such as substituting soap operas for family life; personal identity, finding yourself as an individual reflected in media texts or learning behaviour and values from texts; and surveillance, finding out information which could be useful for living such as weather reports, financial news and holiday deals. My target audience in this case would use my magazine for diversion, they may feel that it helps themselves to show their individual personality by reading about alternative music and feeling like a part of a group.

An example of the Uses and Gratifications Theory which has immersed quite recently is the social networking media, Facebook in particular. The desires and needs of people who use social networking websites are socializing, entertainment, self seeking and the need to find out different information. Students are interested in talking and meeting other people to achieve a sense of community and to be able to feel a part of a group if they are talking about a topic to do with the social networking website. They find that engaging with people on these sights provide a source of entertainment and by doing so they can find out their personal status as well of those of their friends through participating in social networking.

Producing a music magazine should fulfil my target audience’s needs as they will want a magazine which informs them about music so they can talk to their friends about this topic. Readers will want to find out about the particular genre of music that they like, which in this case will be alternative rock music, this fulfils the reader as they want to find out about what their favourite rock bands are doing and any new music which is coming out.

The theory can appear to be quite simplistic and limited in relation to the complexity of how we the audience/reader actually work with a text. The theory assumes that media texts identify desired needs on behalf of the audience and provide material to gratify them. Another interpretation is that the audience creates the desired needs as a response to material provided by the media. Many of the uses and pleasures can be seen as ‘making the best’ of what material is available or being given and putting it to our use which could be different from what the producer originally intended.