Uses and Gratifications of Facebook Members 35 Years and Older

Online social networking sites continue to grow as a medium of consumption, acting as a changing force for interpersonal communication and media interaction. It is important to understand how and why each demographic segment is using these sites. Facebook is the most popular social networking site in the U.S., with older adults representing a substantial portion of the site’s growth. Previous studies have investigated the use of Facebook among college students and young adults; however, older age demographics are a fairly new segment to the online social networking landscape that has not yet been investigated. Through a large-scale online survey, this study represents the first empirical investigation of Facebook members age 35 and older. Findings provide a baseline of knowledge for understanding time spent, frequent activities and gratifications obtained by this audience on Facebook. Results indicate adults 35 and older allocate a substantial amount of time to the site and use it most often for communication with people in their network. While many activities on the site were found to be similar between older and younger audiences, adults 35 and older in this study reported more passive activities of surveillance rather than participation. Factor analysis yielded five gratification factors for Facebook of which three were salient against the 35 and older audience: interpersonal habitual entertainment, passing time and self-expression. Exploratory open-ended questions also revealed some additional unique possible motives to be considered in future research among this audience.

[1]  Jennifer Preece,et al.  The community is where the rapport is -- on sense and structure in the youtube community , 2009, C&T.

[2]  E. Katz,et al.  Uses and Gratifications Research , 2019, The International Encyclopedia of Journalism Studies.

[3]  Kerk F. Kee,et al.  Being Immersed in Social Networking Environment: Facebook Groups, Uses and Gratifications, and Social Outcomes , 2009, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[4]  John Eighmey,et al.  Adding Value in the Information Age: Uses and Gratifications of Sites on the World Wide Web , 1998 .

[5]  D. Chavis,et al.  Sense of community: A definition and theory , 1986 .

[6]  Philip Palmgreen,et al.  Uses and Gratifications: A Theoretical Perspective , 1984 .

[7]  Naomi Gerstel,et al.  Bowling Together , 2013 .

[8]  J. Burgoon,et al.  The Functions of the Daily Newspaper , 1981 .

[9]  N. Howe,et al.  Generations: The History of America's Future, 1584 to 2069 , 1991 .

[10]  Philip Palmgreen,et al.  GRATIFICATIONS SOUGHT AND MEDIA EXPOSURE An Expectancy Value Model , 1982 .

[11]  L. B. Rosenfeld,et al.  USES AND MISUSES OF GRATIFICATIONS RESEARCH , 1983 .

[12]  L. Becker.  Measurement of Gratifications , 1979 .

[13]  E.J. Westlake,et al.  Friend Me if You Facebook: Generation Y and Performative Surveillance , 2008, The Drama Review.

[14]  Phil R. Hoffman.  “But Are We Really Friends?”: Online Social Networking and Community in Undergraduate Students , 2008 .

[15]  S. Sarason.  The Psychological Sense of Community: Prospects for a Community Psychology , 1974 .

[16]  Newspaper Use and Gratification in Hawaii , 1983 .

[17]  Thomas F. Stafford,et al.  What Americans like about being online , 2004, CACM.

[18]  Philip Palmgreen,et al.  Uses and Gratifications and Exposure To Public Television , 1979 .

[19]  Cliff Lampe,et al.  A face(book) in the crowd: social Searching vs. social browsing , 2006, CSCW '06.

[20]  John Raacke,et al.  MySpace and Facebook: Applying the Uses and Gratifications Theory to Exploring Friend-Networking Sites , 2008, Cyberpsychology Behav. Soc. Netw..

[21]  Blythe Suezann Harrell,et al.  Uses and gratifications of the internet , 2000 .

[22]  Pamela J. Shoemaker,et al.  Hardwired for News: Using Biological and Cultural Evolution to Explain the Surveillance Function , 1996 .

[23]  Kerk F. Kee,et al.  Is There Social Capital in a Social Network Site?: Facebook Use and College Students’ Life Satisfaction, Trust, and Participation 1 , 2009 .

[24]  D. Boyd.  Social Network Sites as Networked Publics: Affordances, Dynamics, and Implications , 2010 .

[25]  David J. Atkin,et al.  Exploring the role of media uses and gratifications in multimedia cable adoption , 1999, Telematics Informatics.

[26]  Vincent Price,et al.  On the Public Aspects of Opinion , 1988 .

[27]  Cliff Lampe,et al.  The Benefits of Facebook "Friends: " Social Capital and College Students' Use of Online Social Network Sites , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[28]  Barry Wellman,et al.  Searching for Culture - High and Low , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[29]  J. Blumler.  The Role of Theory in Uses and Gratifications Studies , 1979 .

[30]  Barbara K. Kaye,et al.  Uses and gratifications of the World Wide Web: From couch potato to web potato , 1998 .

[31]  Miriam J. Metzger,et al.  Internet use in the contemporary media environment. , 2001 .

[32]  Judith Donath,et al.  Public Displays of Connection , 2004 .

[33]  John Dimmick,et al.  Factor analysis and gratification constructs , 1988 .

[34]  Wayne M. Towers.  Weekday and Sunday Readership Seen through Uses and Gratifications , 1985 .

[35]  Wu Xiao-ling,et al.  On Listening to the Radio , 2000 .

[36]  Danah Boyd,et al.  Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship , 2007, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[37]  Caroline Haythornthwaite,et al.  Social networks and Internet connectivity effects , 2005 .

[38]  Malcolm R. Parks.  Making Friends in Cyberspace , 1996, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[39]  M. Sherif.  The Psychology of Social Norms , 1937 .

[40]  E. Katz,et al.  On the use of the mass media for important things. , 1973 .

[41]  Werner J. Severin,et al.  Communication Theories: Origins, Methods and Uses in the Mass Media , 1991 .

[42]  Quentin Jones,et al.  Virtual-Communities, Virtual Settlements & Cyber-Archaeology: A Theoretical Outline , 2006, J. Comput. Mediat. Commun..

[43]  A. Rubin,et al.  Predictors of Internet Use , 2000 .

[44]  Margaret Morrison,et al.  Coming of age with the internet , 2006, New Media Soc..

[45]  Alan M. Rubin,et al.  An Examination of Television Viewing Motivations , 1981 .

[46]  Thomas F. Stafford,et al.  Determining Uses and Gratifications for the Internet , 2004, Decis. Sci..

[47]  Stephanie M. Reich,et al.  Online and Offline Social Networks: Use of Social Networking Sites by Emerging Adults , 2008 .

[48]  A. Rubin.  Media uses and effects: A uses-and-gratifications perspective. , 1994 .

[49]  M. Lynne Markus,et al.  The experienced "sense" of a virtual community: characteristics and processes , 2004, DATB.

[50]  Sandra L. Calvert,et al.  College students' social networking experiences on Facebook , 2009 .