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Considering the popularity and addictive attributes of microblogging, the purpose of this paper is to explore the key drivers of the microblogging addiction tendency, and to investigate the causal relationship between microblogging usage and addiction tendency through the lens of the uses and gratifications (U&G) theory.

By extending the U&G theory to accommodate the negative consequences of gratification, a research model that explains the relationships among microblogging use, gratification and addiction tendency was developed and empirically examined based on the data collected from 520 microblogging users in China.

The results showed that different types of microblogging use lead to different categories of gratification to different extents, while different categories of gratification play different roles in determining the level of addiction tendency. Specifically, the effect of content gratification on addiction is marginal, while social gratification has significant effects on all dimensions of addiction tendency.

The present study has both theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical perspective, unlike many previous studies applied the U&G theory to explore the positive outcomes of media uses, this paper extends the U&G by including addiction tendency as a negative psychological outcome of U&G., resulting a research framework (use-gratification-addiction framework). Meanwhile, this paper contributes to the extending literature by examining the constructs of U&G at a granular level and investigated the causal relationship between “uses” and “gratifications.”

The purpose of this study is to explore the general and specific gratifications obtained from using microblog and WeChat.

To shed light on the difference of gratifications to use microblog and WeChat, 18 interviews with social media users in China were conducted.

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.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a robust framework for assessing motivations to use Twitter. Drawing on previous studies, diffusion of innovations, unified theory of acceptance and use of technology, and uses and gratifications frameworks were incorporated to capture the variety in Twitter gratifications.

This study explored the motivations to use Twitter through data mining and content analysis of #IUseTwitterBecause trending topic in Turkey. The sample was consisted of 4,465 tweets posted by 3,794 unique Twitter persona.

Findings revealed 13 distinct Twitter gratifications which were grouped under four main categories: content, process, social and technology. Process gratifications were found to be the strongest motives for using Twitter whereas content gratifications were the weakest. The current findings indicated that Turkish users engage with Twitter mostly for self-expression, escapism, and social interaction. Moreover, the study found a novel campaign gratification for using Twitter solely to make political or social agenda visible in the society.

The current study extends the previous literature on motivations in using social networking services from both analytical and methodological perspectives. The naturally occurring data and relatively large sample size in this study provides a deeper look into social media gratifications and yields more generalizable findings. Besides, this study contributes to the alleviation of conceptual confusions among the past social media gratification studies.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual framework, which identifies intrinsic, social and extrinsic gratification factors as essential individual factors influencing users’ disclosure of personal information via mobile instant messaging (MIM) applications (apps). In addition, the author has examined whether gender affects those different factors of gratification.

Data are collected via paper-based survey from university students who use MIM in the United Arab Emirates. Structural equation modeling is used to test the hypotheses that are presented in the model.

The findings show that intrinsic gratifications (entertainment and escapism) and social gratifications (social interaction) have positive effects on the depth and breadth of self-disclosure via MIM apps. Additionally, women’s self-disclosure of personal information is positively affected by social influence, while men are not influenced by this type of gratification.

The study aims to enhance the current understanding of the limited research on the uses and gratifications approach within the context of MIM apps to identify the gratifications that motivate MIM apps users to disclose personal information.

Citizen satisfaction with the government is a longstanding and continuous concern in public administration. However, past research did not investigate the effect on satisfaction with the government in the context of mobile government (m-government). The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how the social benefits of citizens using m-government affect their satisfaction with the government.

Grounded in the uses and gratifications theory (UGT), the authors suggest that the satisfaction in m-government should be constructed in terms of the satisfaction with m-government and the satisfaction with the government. The research model of citizen satisfaction in the context of m-government is tested through partial least squares (PLS) (SmartPLS 2.0) based on data collected from a survey study in China.

The results indicate that the three important social benefits, e.g. convenience, transparency and participation, are positively associated with process gratification, whereas only convenience is positively associated with content gratification. The results suggest that both process gratification and content gratification are positively associated with citizen satisfaction with the government. Furthermore, the research suggests that process and content gratification have a mediating role, whereas compatibility has a moderating role.

This research provides insights to practitioners on how to facilitate citizen satisfaction by increasing citizens’ social benefits and improving process and content gratification.

This study contributes to the literature by offering a framework for analyzing the impact of citizens’ use of m-government on their satisfaction with the government. The work also contributes to UGT by categorizing user gratifications into process gratifications, content gratifications and citizen satisfaction with the government.

This study aims to examine how information and social gratifications sought by Internet users affect their affinity for the Internet or for particular types of online content.

A survey was administered in Singapore to collect data. A correlation analysis, a paired‐sample t test, and hierarchical regression analyses are conducted to address the research questions and hypotheses.

Affinity for the Internet and affinity for particular types of online content are correlated and distinct. Both relate positively to social gratifications. The passive social gratification of Internet access and the active pursuit of interactions exert similar impact on both types of affinity. Information affects neither after social gratifications are controlled.

Constant access to online contacts or quality online interaction may facilitate social gratifications, thereby boosting user affinity for the Internet or for particular types of online content. Online information should be presented interactively to attract and retain users. The selection of online content and applications should also be made easier to cultivate a loyal user market.

This study contributes to U&G theory by adapting a television‐based proposition to cyberspace, and examining the attitudinal effect of online social gratifications involving different levels of user activity.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a theoretical model to investigate the determinants of continuance intention toward social networking sites (SNSs) by integrating the perspectives of the uses and gratifications theory, perceived interactivity and network externalities.

Data collected from 255 Facebook users in Taiwan were used to test the proposed model. The partial least squares method was used to test the measurement model and the structural model.

The findings reveal that emotional gratifications and social gratifications are the key predictors of users’ continuance intention toward SNSs. Further, the results indicate that perceived network size, perceived complementarity, machine interactivity and person interactivity influence information gratifications significantly, while perceived complementarity, machine interactivity and person interactivity exert positive effects on emotional gratifications. Finally, the results show that machine interactivity and person interactivity impact social gratifications positively, whereas perceived network size and perceived complementarity affect machine interactivity and person interactivity significantly.

This study is one of the earliest research inquiries to examine the effects of various types of gratifications on continuance intention. It is also one of the earliest studies to identify the antecedents of gratifications from social factors and technological attributes simultaneously.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how various gratifications obtained in the social media context affect customer participation, and its sequential effect on brand trust, brand commitment and word of mouth (WOM) in social media brand communities.

The data were collected from 352 respondents who used social media using a survey method. The data were assessed using AMOS with structural equation modeling.

The findings depicted that among all gratifications obtained in the social media context, information seeking, incentive and brand likeability strongly affect customer participation, which sequentially affect brand trust, commitment and WOM in social media brand communities. In the context of social media brand communities, brand trust partially mediates the relationship between customer participation and its two outcome variables (brand commitment and WOM).

The present paper contributes that theory of uses and gratifications has particular significance and supposed to be provided further importance in the field of social media. It also presents a vivid and rich understanding of why customers use social media and participate in social media brand communities.

The purpose of this study is to compare the gratification sought and gratification obtained for cognitive needs from social media among information professionals in the limelight of uses and gratification theory. Cognitive needs are related to knowledge, acquiring information, comprehension etc., and gratification sought and gratification obtained are two distinct components of the uses and gratification theory.

For this quantitative research study, a self-administered survey questionnaire was used to collect data from the participants of the study. Sample of this study was 700 information professionals who are necessarily users of social media.

Finding of this study depicted that gratification obtained and gratification sought from social media for cognitive needs are different from each other, and information professionals need to revisit their social media use for cognitive needs.

The present study is limited to gratification sought and gratification obtained for cognitive needs among information professionals.

This study has determined that information professionals need to revisit their social media use for cognitive needs, as the obtained gratifications are different from gratification sought from social media.

Social media provides versatility of information in different forms and large numbers of information professionals are the users of social media around globe. Perceived use of social media for cognitive needs has been resulted into destructed gratifications. This study has brought the actual outcome of the use of social media to the audience so that they may rectify their social media use.

This study is a significant contribution for information professionals to review the gratifications sought and obtained from social media for cognitive needs. It has been established in this study that gratifications sought are significantly different from gratifications obtained from social media among information professionals.

As mobile augmented reality (AR) games enter the maturity stage, understanding how to improve players’ continuance use intention with mobile AR games is critical. Drawing upon the uses and gratifications (U&G) theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of four major gratifications – content, process, social and technology – and other factors on continuance intention to play mobile AR games.

Data collected from 280 Pokémon Go players were used to address research questions. Partial least squares method was employed to assess the relationships in the model and multigroup analysis was conducted based on survey participants’ demographics and their gaming experience.

Content gratification (i.e. catching Pokémon), process gratification (i.e. entertainment), game knowledge and achievement drive players’ continuance use intention. However, social and technology gratifications do not influence players’ continuance use intention. Multigroup analysis suggests that mobile AR game developers should capitalize on the fact that different types of gratifications prompt continuance use intention of different user segments in terms of demographics and experience in general mobile games and Pokémon Go.

The user behavior of mobile AR games has been studied at the early stage of the games, with less attention to variable continuance use intentions across different user segments. This paper attempts to fill the gap by extending the U&G theory to continuance use intention of mobile AR games at the maturity stage and further investigating the importance of player heterogeneity in continuance use intention with mobile AR games. The findings of this study contribute to the literature on U&G, continuance use intention and mobile AR games.