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Media Research : Croatian journal for journalism and the media, Vol. 20 No. 2, 2014.

Original scientific paper

Uses and Gratification Theory – Why Adolescents Use Facebook?

Ivan Tanta orcid id orcid.org/0000-0001-7942-5842 ; PhD, Assistant Professor, Veleučilište VERN’/ VERN’ University of Applied Sciences, Trg bana J. Jelačića 3, 10000 Zagreb, 091/369-8088,
Maja Mihovilović ; mag. comm., Veleučilište VERN’/ VERN’ University of Applied Sciences, Trg bana J. Jelačića 3, 10000 Zagreb, 095/524-3035
Zrinka Sablić ; , mag. psych., Sveučilište Josipa Jurja Strossmayera u Osijeku / Josip Juraj Strossmayer University of Osijek (PhD applicant), Trg Svetog Trojstva 3, 31000 Osijek, 098/902-7047,

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Abstract

Due to a dynamic development of the Web 2.0 and new trends in the social media field that change on a daily basis, contemporary media research is shifting its focus to a greater extent on media users, their motivation and behavior in using social network sites in order to explain the extreme popularity of Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp and other similar SNSs and mobile chat applications among the young.
In this paper we wanted to explore the benefits of Facebook use among adolescents as well as which of their needs are gratified thereat. As the theoretical background we used the uses and gratification theory due to its user oriented approach. Furthermore, we wanted to test whether the uses and gratification concept is adequate for analyzing the motivation and behavior of SNSs users as suggested by some previous research.
The survey comprising 431 adolescent Facebook users was conducted from October to December 2013 in the City of Zagreb. The results have shown that most adolescents use Facebook for socializing and communicating with their friends, discussing school activities, setting up meetings and dates with friends as well as obtaining information about social events. The use of Facebook primarily gratifies adolescents’ need for integration, social interaction, information and understanding of their social environment. The uses and gratification theory proved thereby to be an adequate background for the analysis of the results.

Keywords

Uses and gratification theory; Facebook; adolescents; social network sites; social media

Hrčak ID:

133809

URI

https://hrcak.srce.hr/133809

Publication date:

15.12.2014.

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