The Theory Of Uses And Rewards

The theory of uses and rewards talks about the reasons why people choose certain media and others do not. As the name itself indicates, this theory points out that it is the different uses that are given to information and the various rewards it provides, which determine the consumption of a certain audience.

The first outlines of the theory of uses and rewards appeared in the 1930s, when the mass media began to be part of everyday life for most people. First it was radio, then television, and more recently digital media.

The point is that, today, there are still people who prefer radio, having other means of communication at their fingertips; it also happens with those who choose television or the Internet. The theory of uses and rewards says that no matter how powerful a medium is, since if it does not satisfy the needs  of a certain user, it will have no impact on them.

Some history on the theory of uses and rewards

At the beginning of the history of the mass media it was believed that the receivers were completely passive. In other words, people were thought to receive the information or entertainment and simply absorb it without offering much response or resistance to what they were told or led to believe.

Towards the 1940s, when television was already gaining importance, communication theorists began to notice that there were different responses in viewers to the options offered to them. Not everyone saw or heard the same thing, nor did it have the same impact on everyone.

By the 1960s the theory of uses and gratifications began to take shape. Its pioneers were researchers such as Elihu Katz, Jay G. Blumler and Michael Gurevitch, who carried out empirical studies in this regard and corroborated that “the mass”  to which the information was directed was not as homogeneous as previously thought. They found that a medium was successful to the extent that it responded to the practical and psychological needs of its audience.

The principles of the theory of uses and rewards

Lundberg and Hulten developed a set of principles that were beginning to shape the theory of uses and rewards. In practice, they crossed the empirical research results with Maslow’s pyramid of needs. The product was five principles.

These principles are as follows:

• Audiences are active , not passive. They respond in a different way to what the media offers them.
• Each member of the audience decides the relevance of the medium. Each “recipient” decides whether the medium offers the uses and the gratifications that it particularly requires.
• The media compete. The only source of satisfaction of needs is not the media, nor a particular medium. Therefore, you compete for people’s attention.
• People are aware of what they are looking for. Maybe you don’t know why, but you do know what you want when looking for one medium and not another.
• The cultural significance of the media is determined by the public.

The implications of this theory

Based on the basic approaches of the theory of uses and rewards, it was later found that people approach an environment seeking to satisfy four aspects: fun, interpersonal relationships (substitute company), personal identity and surveillance of the environment.

Later, all this was grouped into four categories: cognitive, affective, personal integration and social integration needs. In each person, each group of needs has a different value; He ends up looking for a means of communication so that he can satisfy those that he considers most important according to his personal reality.

The arrival of the Internet and social networks generated important changes in this theory. For the first time, interactivity between people and information sources was two-way and could occur in real time. At the same time, the networks turned people into creators of information, entertainment, etc.

According to the most recent studies, what people are looking for on social networks is basically one or more of the following aspects: trust, company, happiness, fun, vigilance and bond. Networks cannot provide all that, but many times they do create the illusion of providing it. After this brief exposition of the theory of uses and gratifications, a good question would be: what do you look for in each communication medium with which you come into contact?