Uses and gratifications theory has also been used extensively within the study of politics and the dissemination of political messages (Blumler and McQuail, 1969; McLeod and Becker, 1974). While widely used in other disciplines, uses and gratifications theory can also be relevant in helping to explain social media uses. Uses and gratifications theory applies to social media because of its roots in the communications literature. Social media is a communication mechanism that allows users to communicate with thousands, and perhaps billions, of individuals all over the world (Williams et al. 2012). explained the uses and gratification of social media. Their This study employed the Uses and Gratifications Theory to explore the motivations for utilizing a smartphone during trips and satisfactions with travel experience. This study adopted multilevel SEM to explore how U&G motivations affect e-tourist satisfaction when attitude toward smartphone use by tourists serves as a mediator. To this end, data collected from tourists travelling in the US were Keywords: Uses and Gratification Theory; Social Networking Sites; Higher education students; Motivation Introduction Social networking sites (SNSs) have entered peoples daily life with amazing rapidity to become an important social platform for computer-mediated communication (Correa, Hinsley, & de Uses and Gratifications Theory. Practitioners of the uses and gratifications theory study the ways the public consumes media rather than the effect media have on the public. First proposed by communication theorist Harold Lasswell in 1948, many other scholars have contributed to the development of this theory. could explain the role OPbz.

uses and gratification theory explained