Use and Gratifications of Singing Competition Reality Shows: Linking Narcissism and Gratifications Sought with the Multimedia Viewing of Chinese Audiences

Singing competition reality shows have gradually come to dominate the mainland Chinese TV program market. This study explores the gratifications that Chinese audiences seek from watching such shows. An analysis first reveals that the most salient gratifications sought are ambition, suspense, social interaction, and high production quality. Second, narcissism significantly enhances the gratifications that audiences seek in viewing such shows. Third, individuals’ preferences in terms of their ambitions and quality of productions are significantly associated with their choice of media platforms. Finally, social interaction gratification sought and a preference for high-production quality were found to be highly related to Chinese audiences’ viewing and postviewing activities. We found support for these propositions in data collected from a probability sample of 559 respondents. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

A comparison of gratification models of media satisfaction

A largely neglected variable in mass media theory and research is media satisfaction. This is particularly true of uses and gratifications research, where the concept is mentioned frequently but few attempts have been made at operationalization. This study compares the abilities of six alternative gratification/expectancy‐value models to predict satisfaction with television news. The results of correlational and hierarchical regression analysis emphasize the important influence of gratifications obtained from the television news experience on viewer satisfaction levels. They also reveal the weakness of GS‐GO discrepancy models as compared to more straightforward gratification/expectancy‐value models.     

高校图书馆“后评估阶段”服务创新转型问题研究

20年的“以评促建”使高校图书馆基本摆脱了服务资源匮乏、技术落后的困扰。高校图书馆进入“后评估阶段”又面临着信息服务渠道多元化、文化选择多元化和大学生获取信息方式变化所带来的服务创新压力。因此,高校图书馆应以观念创新为先导,实现服务创新由“资源依赖型”、“技术支持型”向“文化主导型”的转变,同时营造鼓励创新、包容个性、宽容失败的文化氛围,顺应现代信息社会和“后评估阶段”对高校图书馆的发展要求。     

Channel use,channel choices and organizational life cycle stages

This study found empirical support for the proposition that channel use and channel choice of face‐to‐face, group, memo, organizational and external media differ in organizations in the birth, growth, maturity, revival and decline stages of the organizational life cycle.     

Gratifications,chronic loneliness and internet use

This study examined how chronic loneliness is associated with gratifications‐sought and its effect on Internet use. Results from a telephone survey of 864 Internet users of 16‐years of age or older found that surveillance, affection, and social interaction were strongest instrumental use of the Internet followed by ritualized use such as entertainment, escape, and arousal. The proposition that the chronically lonely derive fewer gratifications from Internet use than do the situationally lonely and the nonlonely people was not supported. Moreover, no consistent patterns of ritualized or instrumental use of the Internet were found when comparing the chronically lonely and the nonlonely groups. However, the hypothesis that chronically lonely persons will report less active use of the Internet such as using e‐mail, surfing the WWW, reading online news, and playing online games than do the situationally lonely and the nonlonely persons received much support. Finally, regression results show that instrumental gratifications were more predictive of Internet activities for the nonlonely group than the lonely group. Implications of loneliness on Internet use in Chinese culture are discussed.     

An assessment of utility and competitive superiority in the video entertainment industries

The authors examine the satisfactions obtained by audiences from different video media (broadcast television, cable television, videocassette recorders, premium cable television, and pay‐per‐view cable services) and examine the extent to which the different media compete in meeting those satisfactions. The study illustrates how merging niche theory with gratifications research can be used to effectively study competitive relationships.     

Understanding Electronic Media Audiences: The Pioneering Research of Alan M. Rubin

One can hardly be considered knowledgeable of uses and gratifications theory without being familiar with the work of Alan M. Rubin. His advancement of our knowledge about the centrality of the individual in the media uses and effects relationship has inspired numerous scholars to add to the body of knowledge guided by uses and gratifications research. The breadth of Rubin's work in this regard is extraordinary, but his devotion to clarifying central concepts of uses and gratifications in his audience-centered research should also be recognized. Rubin's pioneering studies in uses and gratifications remain as benchmarks for scholars seeking to understand electronic media and how engaged audiences relate to media content.     

An examination of motivations for using the World Wide Web

Using data collected from students at a fully networked university community, this study examines patterns of World Wide Web use and how they may relate to gratifications people seek from traditional media. Path analyses show that beliefs about the Web predict gratifications sought, and that the latter predict gratifications obtained, with considerable reliability. More importantly, entertainment, surveillance, and passing time—gratifications typically associated with television and newspaper use—prove to be significant predictors of World Wide Web site visitation. Thus, the data indicate that Internet use may be understood and predicted through the application of traditional gratification typologies.     

Organizational assimilation and communication technology use

Studies of organizational members' assimilation information seeking have focused on traditional channels for uncertainty reduction (e.g., face‐to‐face communication and traditional technologies like employee handbooks) and on the experiences of newcomers. This investigation extends organizational assimilation research by examining a variety of socialization experiences (not just those of newcomers) and by considering Advanced Communication and Information Technologies (ACITs) as an additional channel for obtaining assimilation‐related information. Data from 405 employees of four organizations were utilized to explore the relationship between three channels for information seeking (face‐to‐face communication, traditional media, and ACIT) and perceived socialization effectiveness. Predictors of employee selection and use of ACITs also were examined, including perceptions of media richness and social presence, and user responses to their experiences using ACITs for assimilation. Results indicate that face‐to‐face communication is the most important predictor of assimilation effectiveness, followed by ACIT use. Least important are traditional technologies. Media characteristics, as elucidated in two prominent theories of organizational communication technology use, predicted individuals' selection and use of ACITs. Finally, a typology of members' behavioral responses to feedback regarding their ACIT use was derived, which revealed that users respond by continuing current practices, supplementing the channel, discontinuing use, expanding use, learning new uses, or by implementing a variety of these strategies.     

Primacy Effects of The Daily Show and National TV News Viewing: Young Viewers,Political Gratifications,and Internal Political Self-Efficacy

This study examines program ordering effects derived from viewing CNN television news relative to The Daily Show on the political gratifications associated with both types of information sources. Internal political self-efficacy is assessed as an individual-difference moderator. Main primacy effects are found on the gratifications associated with both national television news viewing and The Daily Show viewing. However, The Daily Show primacy effect on the political gratifications associated with national television news viewing was isolated among those participants who retain low internal political self-efficacy. Ramifications for these findings are outlined and future lines of research are summarized.     

Toward an etiology of media use motivations: the role of temperament in media use

Despite the potential of the uses and gratifications paradigm to explain the etiology of media uses and effects, most research to date has ignored the issue of etiology and has focused on creating motivation typologies. Recent advances in bio-behavioral research provide a new way to address the question of etiology. A survey of 285 adults showed that the biologically rooted individual difference behavior variable of temperament was a consistent and moderately strong causal factor in forming television use motivations. Distinct patterns of relationships between temperament and all television use gratifications were found, supporting the uses and gratifications paradigm. Particularly potent predictors of television use motivations were negative mood, low task orientation, and behavioral rigidity. These results point out the importance of future bio-behavioral etiological media uses and effects research.     

Informational Sources,Social Media Use,and Race in the Flint,Michigan, Water Crisis

Safe, clean water is necessary for health and well-being. Water issues affect minority and vulnerable populations at disproportionate rates, including the poor and racial and ethnic minorities. An investigation of the relationships of race, social media use, and informational sources during the municipal water crisis in Flint, Michigan, reflects an instrumental view of communication and uses and gratifications theory in this study. Data from 208 Flint residents in 2016 indicated that African American respondents favored interpersonal networks and resources and were more likely than other racial groups to obtain current information about the water crisis via Instagram. Preferred channels and sources to receive additional crisis information varied on the basis of race.     

Book reviews

Guided by uses and gratifications theory and prior research on cross-cultural adaptation (CCA), this article investigated how loneliness influenced Chinese students’ Internet use and CCA. The results showed that chronically lonely, situationally lonely and non-lonely groups were significantly different in their motives for Internet use. Non-lonely Chinese students were more likely to use the Internet for acculturation and less likely to use it for passing time and companionship than did chronically lonely Chinese students. Moreover, loneliness was a significant negative predictor of both sociocultural adaptation and psychological adaptation. Consistent with previous research on CCA, the findings lent support to the uses and gratifications paradigm which posits that individual differences influence people's motivation for media use. Implications of the results for uses and gratifications and CCA research are discussed.     

Competition and coexistence of sports media: the case of watching the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games*

This study was performed in the context of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympic Games to examine the patterns of competition among television sets, personal computers, and mobile devices in gratifying audiences of one of the world's greatest sporting event. In light of the theory of niche, three measures of niche – niche breadth, niche overlap, and competitive superiority – were examined. Of the major findings, personal computers appeared to overlap the most with, and were superior to mobile devices in fulfilling socialization and diversion gratifications. These findings indicate personal computers are, at least partially, replacing mobile devices with respect to socialization and diversion gratifications. In comparison, the television set appeared to overlap the most with, and was superior to the personal computer in fulfilling the eustress, aesthetic, learning, and self-esteem gratifications. These findings indicate that television sets remain the dominant medium for fulfilling these four gratification dimensions.     

Carrying Forward the Uses and Grats 2.0 Agenda: An Affordance-Driven Measure of Social Media Uses and Gratifications

The notion of social media affordances has not been fully integrated into the uses and gratifications literature. Building on the MAIN (modality, agency, interactivity, and navigability) model, this study develops and tests a social media uses and gratifications scale with a sample of 393 college students. Results of the study support the MAIN model, as conceptualizing social media uses and gratifications as a second-order factor structure with 4 different types of affordances displays similar goodness-of-fit to a single-order factor structure. A confirmatory factor analysis with a second sample of 313 adults further confirms the applicability of the scale among the general population.     

Reality Television Programming and Diverging Gratifications: The Influence of Content on Gratifications Obtained

The study explores how competition-based reality shows with different thematic content influence gratifications obtained by viewers. Participants completed surveys regarding their reasons for watching reality programs in general and their reasons for watching specific reality shows (The Apprentice, The Bachelor/Bachelorette, and Survivor). Results identified a new gratification dimension not previously observed in other gratifications research (personal utility), and that correlations exist between the specific content of reality-based programs and the gratifications obtained by the viewers.     

科普期刊新媒体融合发展的机遇与实践

互联网浪潮冲击下,面临着响应更快、内容更丰富、传播更便捷的新媒体科普内容的不断挑战,传统科普期刊均在寻求转型.文章分析新媒体环境中的科学普及形势,讨论传统科普期刊如何借新媒体手段拓展新受众,并利用及时反馈实现精准科普的融合发展方法.介绍《航空知识》近年来积极利用新技术、拓展新渠道、创造新内容等探索创新发展的经验,供处于融合发展路上的科普期刊借鉴.     

Analyzing the uses and gratifications concept of audience activity with a qualitative approach: Media encounters during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake disaster

Diaries and narratives produced by 29 college students during the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake served as the data for a qualitative analysis grounded in the conventional philosophy, if not the traditional methodology, of the uses and gratifications perspective. Two hundred ninety‐nine individual media episodes were interpreted. Audience activity before, during, and after media exposure was studied through the application of the Levy and Windahl Typology of Audience Activity which demonstrated the operation of the nine types of media activity proposed by its creators. Conclusions call for the redirection (rather than abandonment) of audience‐based research away from general‐trend audience consumption and towards more specific cultural interaction of people with media.     

Compressed speech by mnemonic joining: A negative implication for broadcasting

This study extended talk radio research to a developing nation setting. Results received from a Kingston, Jamaica sample of 268 adults, with access to 10 call‐in programs, supported the hypothesis that information and surveillance are the primary gratifications sought from call‐in radio programs in a developing nation. In contrast to U.S. results, reinforcement and companionship were less sought from talk radio listening. Lower socioeconomic status, lower educated, and higher isolated listeners were most apt to find gratification through a range of call‐in programs. These results indicate a potentially important role for call‐in radio in developing nations.     

The Role of Motivation and Media Involvement in Explaining Internet Dependency

Links among demographics, motivation for using the Internet, cognitive and affective involvement, and Internet dependency were investigated. By integrating uses and gratifications theory and media dependency research, motivation was found to play a more important antecedent role in explaining Internet dependency than demographics, and cognitive and affective involvement mediated the relationship between motivation and Internet dependency. This finding supported the uses and gratifications argument that certain factors intervene in the media uses and effects process between motivation to communicate and outcomes of communication behavior such as media use.