USES + GRATIFICATIONS THEORY.

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY:

The uses and gratifications theory assumes five reasons that a consumer would wish to indulge in different media types. This helps to give the companies a better understanding of what they should involve in their text to improve engagement and loyalty. There are five categories of the theory of which are:

- Surveillance:

the audience wants to gain some knowledge and understanding of a topic: random or specific..

- Divergence:

the audience just simply wants to be entertained, maybe being in the need of casual passing time. Also, this could including escapism, where they want to experience someone else's experiences.

- Personal identity:

the audience will have a personal connection any or multiple people / characters, products, themes, values or products shown. They will use these in their daily life by adapting to some characteristics.

- Personal relationships:

the audience watches to develop their own personal relationships, the initial reason for divulging could be solely to discuss the text with another, this develops their personal relationship and also creates a word of mouth for the text, gaining more publicity.

History:

The theory came about in the early 1970s by Elihu Katz when he thought how people actually use media to benefit themselves. He, along with his two colleagues Jay Blumler and Michael Gurevitch, thought more on the idea and thought the concept to be modern at the time as it went against the older views which assumed the audience was passive. The theory sees the audience to be active which therefore means that they actively seeking different types of media to achieve satisfaction, this achievement of satisfaction is where the theory comes from.

---

USES AND GRATIFICATIONS THEORY CASESTUDY:

VANTIY FAIR:

Surveillance:

Surveillance would be one of the main features of the magazine as it gives lots of intel on the latest news and updates, this is something that they feature at the top of their google search too. This will bring in more readers as current news is a topic that millions of users will research on this daily. As well as this, there will be articles that will help people's daily routines, like health and beauty tips.

Divergence:

The articles about celebrities will help distract the reader from their own life, by engrossing themselves in the gossip and tips of another human. Below is a very high status celebrity at the minute, someone who the young adult's fans are the target audience of the magazine. The link is to a video series which has gained millions of views over the years (since 2017 as shown), it shows how the celebrity has changed in her life. Billie Eilish is asked the same questions, from her happiness to her following on social media, the aim is to see how she develops over the years. This insight into someone else's life distracts the viewer from their own personal thoughts, a way out to experience someone else's situation.

Personal Identity:

By using particular celebrities, those interested in the actual celebs will probably engage and purchase an issue for their stan. Including celebs with a hardcore fanbase, there is an even higher chance of purchase or online sales, this is a solid way to continue as a magazine because they will always bring a set amount of sales. For example, to the left is an actor who was very popular with the young teenage audience from being a 'heartthrob' in most of his roles, this is something people still mention on social media, therefore he is a solid celebrity to mention for a specific audience. The teenagers who were infatuated with his 2005 characters are the same generation who have now grown and are the target age for the Vanity Fair publication.

Personal Relationships:

The reader might feel obligated to read an issue or an online article (free) as many of their friends are discussing it. If the magazine is to include an exclusive celebrity or story, the audience will talk about it, the word of mouth will encourage others to engage so they can understand and add to the topic of discussion.

One hot topic at the minute is Britney Spears' safety, as an icon for all generations, she is a well known public figure who everyone would be concerned about. As mentioned in the article blurb, there is a #FreeBritney 'movement' meaning that she is a person that many are talking about, meaning that if one were to research her situation to become updated, they may stumble across this article