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Introduction
Social media is a critical area of interest for marketing scholars and practitioners. Recent research has shown that 88 percent of marketers are using social media and that they are spending over $60 billion annually on social media advertising ([3] Gil-Or, 2010; [18] Smith, 2011). Successfully making contact with consumers via social media is predicted to show great returns for marketers in the coming years ([15] Okazaki et al. , 2007). Despite the importance of social media, there is little understanding of how and why consumers use social media.
Uses and gratifications theory, which has its roots in the communications literature, can be an integral part of developing better scales and measurement instruments for social media marketers. The basic premise of uses and gratifications theory is that individuals seek out media that fulfill their needs and leads to ultimate gratification ([9] Lariscy et al. , 2011). Uses and gratifications theory has specific relevance to social media, but it has not been given prominence in the marketing and social media literature. Therefore, this paper seeks to apply uses and gratifications theory to help explain why consumers use social media. In particular, this research seeks to:
- demonstrate the importance of uses and gratifications theory to social media;
- to apply uses and gratifications theory to social media; and
- to identify the uses and gratifications that consumers receive from using social media.
By applying uses and gratifications theory, this research seeks to provide a better and more comprehensive understanding of why consumers use social media.
We begin by briefly summarizing the literature on social media and uses and gratifications theory. Next, we describe the methodology used and the research findings. Last, the article discusses the implications and conclusions of the current research.
Literature review
Social media is defined as "a group of internet-based applications that build on the ideological and technical foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of user generated content" ([5] Kaplan and Haenlein, 2010, p. 61). Social media includes a multitude of sources of online information that are created, circulated and used by consumers to educate one another about products, services, and brands available in the marketplace ([14] Murugesan, 2007). Current examples of social media platforms include social...