Unveiling Social Gratifications Sought and Obtained from Social Media Utilization

<p class="Default"><em>Going by the proposition of the Uses and Gratifications Theory (UGT), people are motivated to use media by various psychological factors and for obtaining different forms of gratifications. However, as social media continue to play an essential role in shaping the sociability and bridging social connectivity and interactions among its users, therefore, this study seeks to incorporate social influence and social interactions as the social gratification sought in social media utilization, as well as both bonding and bridging social capital as social gratification obtained from social media utilization. An online survey was conducted among 400 users of Instagram </em><em>in Nigeria. </em><em>The data analyzed with PLS-SEM revealed that social influence and social interaction significantly motivate social media utilization. Also, social media utilization is significantly associated with bonding and bridging social capital. Impliedly, this study shows that social media is a social and networking tool which is stimulated by social factors and for achieving social purposes such as getting help, support and community engagements.</em></p>

Consumer acceptance of social recommender systems in India

PurposeCollaborative filtering based recommender systems (CF–RS) are widely used to recommend products based on consumers' preference similarity. Recommendations by CF–RS merely provide suggestions as “people who bought this also bought this” while, consumers are unaware about the source of these recommendations. By amalgamating CF–RS with consumers' social network information, e-commerce sites can offer recommendation from social networks of consumers. These social network embedded systems are known as social recommender systems (SRS). The extant literature has researched on the algorithms and implementation of these systems; however, SRS have not been understood from consumers' psychological perspective. This study aims to qualitatively explore consumers' motives to accept SRS in e-commerce websites.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative study is based on in-depth interviews of frequent online shoppers. SRS are currently not very widespread in the Indian e-commerce space; hence, a vignette was shown to respondents before they responded to the questions. Inductive qualitative content analysis method was used to analyse these interviews.FindingsThree main themes (social-gratification, self-gratification and information-gratification) emerged from the analysis. Out of these, social-gratification acts as an enabler, while self-gratification along with some elements of information-gratification act as inhibitors towards acceptance of social recommendations. Based on these gratifications, we present a conceptual model on consumer's acceptance of social recommendations.Originality/valueThis study is an initial attempt to qualitatively understand consumers' attitudes and acceptance of social recommendations on e-commerce websites, which in itself is a fairly new phenomenon.

Individuals’ Motivation for Joining a Social Group: Examining Their Homogeneity

Human, being a social animal, has desired to be part of a social group. The present study explores motives/reasons of an individual for joining a social group/club through surveys conducted at various cities of India. The result of data analysis suggests that individual desired to join social groups/clubs for self-development, social service, extraversion, social voracity, self and social gratification, and for emotional support. Furthermore, convergence in individuals was also explored on the basis of their responses. From the analysis, three clusters emerged, namely, inquisitive individuals, extrovert individuals and voracious individuals. The study also discusses the implications of the outcome for founders/managers/marketers of groups and researchers.

Using data analytics to further understand the role that boredom, loneliness, social anxiety, social gratification, and social relationships (BRAG) play in a driver’s decision to text

Texting while driving is a growing problem that current efforts have failed to curtail. This behavior has serious, and sometimes fatal, consequences, and the factors that cause a driver to text are not well understood. This study investigates the influence that boredom, social relationships, social anxiety, and social gratification (BRAG) have upon the texting driver. A survey instrument was used to collect data from 297 respondents at a mid-sized regional university in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. The data was evaluated with PLS-SEM, which indicated that social gratification plays a very significant role in a driver’s decision to text. Additionally, data visualization techniques were used to gain additional knowledge from the data. The analysis with these techniques indicated that social anxiety may also play a role in a driver’s decision to text.

Uses and gratifications of social media: a comparison of microblog and WeChat

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to explore the general and specific gratifications obtained from using microblog and WeChat. Design/methodology/approach – To shed light on the difference of gratifications to use microblog and WeChat, 18 interviews with social media users in China were conducted. Findings – Results reveal that three types of gratifications were obtained from using both microblog and WeChat: content gratification, social gratification and hedonic gratification. Also, the strength and components of each gratification for microblog and WeChat were different. Content gratification plays the most salient role in using microblog, while social gratification is the most important for WeChat usage. In addition, content gratification of microblog usage is related to information seeking and information sharing, while social gratification of WeChat usage is constituted by private social networking and convenient communication. Furthermore, content gratification of WeChat usage refers to high-quality information provided and information sharing, and entertainment and passing time develop hedonic gratification of microblog usage, while that of WeChat usage refers to entertainment. Originality/value – Extant research has mainly focused on the gratifications of one social media and lacks studies comparing the motivations in using different social media. Also, only little research has identified the components of different gratifications and how they affect the adoption of different social media. The current study attempts to fill these research gaps.

Methods of Research in Virtual Communities

The Internet has developed from an informative medium to a social environment where people meet together, exchanging messages and emotions and establishing friendships and social relationships. While the Internet was originally conceived as a commercial marketspace (Rayport & Sviokla, 1994) with new opportunities for both firms and customers (Alba, Lynch, Weitz, Janiszevski, Lutz, Sawyer, & Wood, 1997), nowadays the social side of the Web is a central phenomenon to truly understand the Internet. Social gratification is among the most relevant motivations to go online (Stafford & Stafford, 2001). People socialise through the Internet, adding a third motivation to their online activity, other that the pleasure of surfing in itself (the “flow experience” described by Hoffman and Novak, 1996) and the usefulness of finding information.

Participating in Deaf Sport: Characteristics of Deaf Spectators

Fifty-nine deaf spectators at the 1991 Winter World Games for the Deaf were surveyed to delineate biodemographic characteristics and the socialization processes that led to their attendance at the Games. Subjects ranged from 21 to 74 years of age and were initially attracted to the Games because of their interest in watching deaf individuals compete. However, their chief source of enjoyment at the Games was the opportunity to socialize. It was also revealed that American Sign Language might not be as dominant a language in the Deaf community as previously thought and that some deaf individuals do receive social gratification through their interactions with and among nondeaf individuals.