Information Uses and Gratifications Related to Crisis: Student Perceptions since the Egyptian Uprising

People use diverse sources of information, e.g., newspapers, TV, Internet news, social media, and face-to-face conversations, to make sense of crises. We apply uses and gratifications theory (UGT) and structural equation modeling to illustrate how using internet-based information sources since the political uprisings in Egypt influence perceptions of information satisfaction. Consistent with expectations we find that content and process gratifications constructs combine to explain information satisfaction, while social gratifications do not significantly influence satisfaction in the context of a crisis. This suggests that UGT is useful for evaluating the use of information technology in a context where information is limited in quantity and reliability.