Research On Adolescents’ Uses And Gratifications Of Social Media

With the advancement of Mobile Internet technology, more and more adolescentshave become a user of social media, and it’s gradually developed into the largest usergroup. Social media has changed the internet usage behavior of adolescents for its deepparticipation and interaction. Because of their physiological and psychologicalimmaturity, adolescents are more susceptible to advertising, fraud, loss of privacy andother insecurity factors in social media. On the contrary, studies on uses andgarifications on social media of adolescents is lack of attention.This paper aimed to descripe the phenomenon of social media usage behavior ofadolescents, sum up types of gratification form, discuss the influencing factors andcountermeasures. Theoretically, it is based on uses and gratifications theory,technology acceptance model, media system dependency theory, social networkstheory, and theories of adolescence development. Empirically, the research wasconducted both in Zhejiang and Hunan province in China which was targeted onadolescents aged12-24. Finally,740valid questionnaires were obtained.Through the collection and analysis, the main points in the thesis are as follow:(1) Gratification can be divided into four dimensions as cognition, socialization,emotional experience and the negative impact through the exploratory factor analysis.(2) Compared with other independent variables, the attitude towards social media, thereal social relationship, the state and motivation of using, together with family incomeand education are more influential on the gratifications.(3) Adolescents regard socialmedia as a symbol of fashion lifestyle rather than a medium. The usage behavior haschanged a lot from instrumental use to ritual use, from―I-intention‖to―We-intention‖,from―Digital Gap‖to―Intersts Division‖, from passive to active socialization.