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The appeal of
Understanding the appeal of user-generated
user-generated media: a uses and media
gratification perspective
7
Guosong Shao
College of Communication and Information Sciences, University of Alabama, Received 17 April 2008
Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA Revised 5 October 2008
Accepted 13 October 2008

Abstract
Purpose User-generated media (UGM) like YouTube, MySpace, and Wikipedia have become
tremendously popular over the last few years. The purpose of this paper is to present an analytical
framework for explaining the appeal of UGM.
Design/methodology/approach This paper is mainly theoretical due to a relative lack of
empirical evidence. After an introduction on the emergence of UGM, this paper investigates in detail
how and why people use UGM, and what factors make UGM particularly appealing, through a uses
and gratifications perspective. Finally, the key elements of this study are summarized and the future
research directions about UGM are discussed.
Findings This paper argues that individuals take with UGM in different ways for different
purposes: they consume contents for fulfilling their information, entertainment, and mood
management needs; they participate through interacting with the content as well as with other
users for enhancing social connections and virtual communities; and they produce their own contents
for self-expression and self-actualization. These three usages are separate analytically but
interdependent in reality. This paper proposes a model to describe such interdependence.
Furthermore, it argues that two usability attributes of UGM, easy to use and let users control,
enable people to perform the aforementioned activities efficiently so that people can derive greater
gratification from their UGM use.
Originality/value UGM are an extremely important topic in new media scholarship, and this
study represents the first step toward understanding the appeal of UGM in an integrated way.
Keywords Electronic media, Internet, User studies, Customer satisfaction
Paper type General review

1. Introduction
At the end of 2006, Time Magazine selected you, especially those people who
contribute to user-generated media, as its esteemed Person of the Year. When stating
the reason for singling you out, the cover storys author, Grossman (2006, p. 40), writes
with an inspiring style:
Look at 2006 through a different lens and youll see another story, one that isnt about conflict
or great men. It is a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It

The author wishes to thank Dr Jennings Bryant for providing invaluable comments and
Internet Research
suggestions on this research. He wishes to thank two anonymous referees and the editor Vol. 19 No. 1, 2009
handling this manuscript for providing constructive feedback. He is also indebted to his wife pp. 7-25
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Ying Zhang for providing intellectual support throughout the production and completion of this 1066-2243
study. DOI 10.1108/10662240910927795
INTR is about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel peoples
network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. Its about the many wresting power
19,1 from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the
world, but also change the way the world changes.
Although their influence on the world at large is still unclear, user-generated media
(UGM) are fundamentally changing the world of entertainment, communication, and
8 information, particularly thanks to their self-sustaining nature and ever-growing
audience size. The questions thus arise: What are user-generated media? How do
people use them? Why do people use them? Why are they so appealing to people?
These questions are of great importance to todays media and Internet researchers and
practitioners. However, there are few studies that have systematically addressed them.
The current paper attempts to fill this research gap.
Historically, UGM can be traced back to the bulletin boards on such portal sites as
Yahoo and AOL in the 1990s. Over time, they have evolved to encompass blogs, wikis,
picture-sharing, video-sharing, social-networking, and other user-generated web sites.
Some of them like Wikipedia function as a collective gathering of information; some
like MySpace and YouTube are to do with personal sites; and still others like Flickr are
a mix of collective and personal sites (Lanchester, 2006). Although coming in different
types, UGM can be summarized as follows, i.e. they refer to the new media whose
content is made publicly available over the Internet, reflects a certain amount of
creative effort, and is created outside of professional routines and practices
(Wunsch-Vincent and Vickery, 2006). UGM emphasize the concept of media rather
than content because they act like paid media (Blackshaw, 2007). They represent the
extension of media production through new technologies, such as podcasting, digital
video, and mobile phone photography, whihc are increasing accessible to the public
(Wikipedia, 2007).
Over the past few years, UGM have been experiencing dramatic traffic growth. A
study by Nielsen/NetRatings (2006) showed that five out of US top ten fastest growing
web sites from July 2005 to July 2006 were user-generated sites, including ImageShack,
Heavy.com, Flickr, MySpace, and Wikipedia. With a spectacular growth, UGM seem to
usher in a quiet revolution in peoples media consumption. YouTube, for example, has
become the market leader in online video. According to Hitwise, a global Internet
research company, the market share of US visits to YouTube in December 2006 was
five times more than the shares going to the four broadcast network sites combined
(including NBC, ABC, CBS, and Fox) (Prescott, 2007). UGM has also changed the way
people learn about and listen to music. Hitwise reported that MySpace Music
comprised less than 5 percent of the visits to the Hitwise Music category in December
2005, but the number increased to nearly 23 percent one year later (Prescott, 2007).
Even politicians have recognized the power of UGM. Virtually all of the US 2008
presidential candidates have advocated their candidacy through YouTube and
MySpace, where voters can easily look up campaign materials and make videos
supporting presidential candidates of their own.
The above evidence confirms that UGM have become a social phenomenon. The
fundamental question is: How can we explain this? This article argues that the appeal
of UGM can be analyzed through uses and gratifications theory (U&G). An influential
tradition in media research, U&G presents media use in terms of the gratification or
psychological needs of the individual (Blumler and Katz, 1974). It assumes that
audiences consciously choose the medium that could fulfill their needs and that they The appeal of
are able to recognize their reasons for making media choices (Katz et al., 1974). The user-generated
main objectives of U&G inquiry are to explain how people use the media to gratify
their needs; to understand motives for media behavior; and to identify functions or media
consequences that follow from needs, motives, and behavior (Katz et al., 1974). While
media industries continue to provide people with a wide range of media platforms and
content, U&G is considered one of the most appropriate perspectives for investigating 9
why audiences choose to deal with different media channels (LaRose et al., 2001;
Ruggiero, 2000). Media scholars have factually applied U&G not only to those
traditional media like newspapers, radio, television, and cable television (e.g., Babrow,
1987; Conway and Rubin, 1991; Elliott and Rosenberg, 1987; Mendelsohn, 1964), but
also to many kinds of nontraditional media such as VCR, pager, e-mail, mobile phone,
and the Internet (e.g., Dimmick et al., 2000; Eighmey, 1997; Ferguson and Perse, 2000;
Ko et al., 2005; Leung and Wei, 1999; Levy, 1987; Papacharissi and Rubin, 2000).
Indeed, whenever a new technology enters the stage of mass communication, peoples
motivations to use this technology have been examined through this perspective
(Elliott and Rosenberg, 1987). Moreover, analyzing the social and psychological
functions of the media, Katz et al. (1973) developed 35 needs that motivate people to use
media and put them into five categories: cognitive needs, affective needs, personal
integrative needs, social integrative needs, and tension release needs. Congruously,
McQuail (1983) summarized four common reasons for media use: information; personal
identity; integration and social interaction; and entertainment.
Based on U&G theory, this article provides an in-depth analysis of the appeal of
UGM. It first addresses the questions of how and why people use UGM. It then
addresses the question of what factors make UGM particularly appealing to people.
Finally, the key elements of this study are summarized and the future research
directions in relation to UGM are discussed.

2. Different uses, different gratifications

In this section, an analytical framework is proposed to explain how and why
individuals use UGM. First of all, it suggests that individuals deal with UGM in three
ways: by consuming, by participating, and by producing[1]. Consuming refers to the
individuals who only watch, read, or view but never participate. Participating includes
both user-to-user interaction and user-to-content interaction (such as ranking the
content, adding to playlists, sharing with others, posting comments, etc.). It does not
include ones actual production. Producing encompasses creation and publication of
ones personal contents such as text, images, audio, and video. Furthermore, this article
posits that different uses are driven by different motivations: people consume the
content for information and entertainment, participate for social interaction and
community development, and produce their own content for self-expression and
self-actualization. In addition, this article proposes a model to describe the
interdependence of these three activities.

2.1 Consuming for information and entertainment

As with traditional media and entertainment, individuals can go to user-generated sites
to consume such contents as video clips, blogs, pictures, and music. It is reported that
in 2007 half of American consumers (51 percent) watched and/or read content the
INTR created by others, and the number jumped to 71 percent for American youths (August
19,1 et al., 2007). The questions are why individuals choose to consume user-generated
content and what gratifications do they expect to gain from such consumption.
Previous U&G research on traditional and new media has revealed two typical motives
for media consumption, namely, information seeking and entertainment (see Graber,
1993; Katz et al., 1974; Korgaonkar and Wolin, 1999; McQuail, 1983, 2000; Zillmann and
10 Bryant, 1985). This can help us understand peoples media consumption on
user-generated sites.
Information seeking is driven by peoples desire to increase awareness and
knowledge of ones self, others, and the world. This can be seen from the fact that
people often visit Wikipedia to get some information about subjects that specifically
interest them. It is also observed that people increasingly make use of MySpace,
Facebook, and other social media to learn how to make sense of things from their
peers on just about any subject (Bowman and Willis, 2003, p. 40). Moreover, as a
source of news and information, UGM have been influencing the concept of
searching. When consumers type in any product name into a search engine like
Google, they may be as likely to find a user-generated site about the product as they are
to find the corporate site (see Figure 1 for examples), but place far more trust in their
fellow consumers than in advertisers and marketers (Blackshaw and Nazzaro, 2006).

Figure 1.
The salience of UGM in
information seeking
Compared with information seeking, entertainment may be more important in The appeal of
triggering media use (Rafaeli, 1986). For most people entertainment and mass media user-generated
are nearly synonymous (Ruggiero, 2000). Take YouTube as an example: the majority
of the most popular channels come from the entertainment-related categories such as media
entertainment, sports, music, comedy, and film and animation (see Figure 2)
(YouTubeData, 2007). Furthermore, the entertainment content on YouTube is often
like snack food: it is light, bright and digestible (see Idato, 2006). Such snack 11
content seems to be suited for people with limited time. Since they have many things
to do, modern consumers increasingly break their time into small periods and
distribute these variable-length periods over the course of the week (Wolf, 1999).
Accordingly, they come to consume pop culture like movies, television, and songs the
same way they enjoy cookies or chips in conveniently packaged bite-size nuggets
made to be munched easily with increased frequency and maximum speed (Miller,
2007). We have seen that YouTube and its many imitators limit each video to a few
minutes of clips for entertainment seekers. It can be considered a buffet of snack
videos, highly meeting peoples needs for high-speed entertainment munching.
Like consuming traditional media such as television and magazines, people may use
UGM for such entertainment ends as escaping from problems, relaxing, getting
aesthetic enjoyment, filling time, seeking emotional release and sexual arousal (see
Katz et al., 1973; McQuail, 1983). In addition, through the consumption of entertaining
messages, people are capable of altering prevailing mood states, and that the selection
of specific messages for consumption often serves the regulation of mood states. This

Figure 2.
Most popular YouTube
channels
INTR is known as mood management theory (see Bryant and Davies, 2006; Bryant and
19,1 Zillmann, 1984; Zillmann, 1988). In the case of YouTube, it provides users on a daily
basis with millions of video clips, including comedy, films, animation, music, news,
sports, and so on. Thus, stressed individuals can go there for relaxing clips while bored
individuals can visit for excitatory materials, and through this method individuals can
bring their physiological arousal and affect back to optimal, comfortable levels. To
12 some degree, YouTube can be regarded as a convergence of the traditional
entertainment choices of television, music, and film. It is thus plausible that mood
management theory dwelling on the use of traditional media can be applied to
YouTube and other similar sites. However, the users of YouTube seemingly have a
much broader range of stimuli choices than those of traditional media; meanwhile, the
users are often attracted to a couple of most viewed or most rated videos. So, how
does the huge variety of content choice as well as the common content-ranking practice
affect peoples selective exposure experience on user-generated sites? This question
needs to be addressed if we want to further investigate the mood management function
of UGM.

2.2 Participating for social interaction and community development

In addition to consuming, people may participate through interacting with the content
as well as with other users on user-generated sites. User-to-content interaction occurs
when people rate the content, save to their favorites, share with others, post comments,
etc. User-to-user interaction occurs when people interact with each other through
e-mail, instant message, chat room, message boards, and other Internet venues. Such
interaction can be considered an indirect (in the case of the former) or direct (in the case
of the latter) way for individuals to fulfill their social interaction needs (Chan, 2006).
The Internet has become a prime venue for social interaction since its inception
(McKenna et al., 2002). Major Internet web sites such as Yahoo and Excite provided a
number of electronic venues (e.g., e-mail, chat rooms, and message boards) where
people can communicate with others who share their interests and values (McKenna
and Bargh, 1999; Schumann and Thorson, 1999). Recent emergence of UGM has
accelerated this trend, as shown in MySpace, Facebook, and many other social sites
which are rooted in meeting peoples social interaction needs. But can the Internet
really help people fulfill their social needs? Scholars with a negative view argue that
the Internet is too inherently antithetical to the nature of human life, and too limited
technologically to foster meaningful relationships (Beniger, 1988; Stoll, 1995). However,
the positive perspective suggests that Internet use can result in decreased loneliness,
decreased depression, decreased estrangement and isolation, increased self-acceptance,
greater liking and acceptance by others, and widened social circles (see Cole, 2000;
McKenna and Barch; McKenna et al., 2002; Walther, 1997).
Such a positive perspective seems to be supported by the success of such
high-profile sites as MySpace. It is found that in the UK, 41 percent of Internet users
already use MySpace and other social sites to interact with other online users around
the world (Booz Allen Hamilton, 2007). In the USA, more than half (55 percent) of online
youths use an online social site; specifically, girls use social sites primarily for
reinforcing pre-existing friendships while boys for flirting and making new friends
(Lenhart and Madden, 2007). Compared with traditional face-to-face communication,
online interaction has the following advantages:
 .
it allows users to compensate for missing cues in images, sounds, texts and other The appeal of
data by using available textual cues; user-generated
.
it allows users to focus more on the content by carefully reading, listening, or media
viewing them; and
.
it allows users to engage in more informal conversations and settings (van Dijk,
2006).
13
Beyond social interaction, peoples participation may also contribute to the formation
and maintenance of virtual communities on user-generated sites. Virtual communities
form when people carry on public discussions long enough with sufficient human
feeling to form webs of personal relationships (Rheingold, 2000). In virtual
communities, individuals can easily find others who share similar interests and
goals, and are able to voice opinions and concerns in a supportive environment
(Korenman and Wyatt, 1996; Lindlof and Shatzer, 1998; Tossberg, 2000). Moreover, by
joining a group, people may get a sense of communion, such as a feeling of belonging, a
feeling that members matter to one another and to the group, and a shared faith that
members needs will be met through their commitment to be together (McMillan and
Chavis, 1986). On MySpace, there have been 2,611,903 communities that are
aggregated into 33 big categories such as activities, music, entertainment, fashion and
style, school and alumni, and religion and beliefs[2]. These virtual communities
represent places where people connect and interact concerning shared interests,
support, sociability, and identity (Wellman, 2001), and may be as valuable and useful
as their familiar, physically located communities (Horn, 1998; Rheingold, 1993).
Responding to content (i.e. user-to-content interaction) could also be helpful for the
development of virtual communities. This can partly be explained by the reinforcement
model, which predicts that people repeat actions that lead to positive reinforcements
(Joyce and Kraut, 2006). Studying online newsgroups, Joyce and Kraut found that
receiving a response to an initial post (regardless of its emotional tone) would increase
the likelihood that the poster would post again. The reinforcement model may apply to
user-generated sites: if content providers receive a response from other users, they may
be more likely to post new materials. Given that virtual communities are often built
around user-generated contents, responding to content is thus important for
community development in that it encourages dynamic content creation.

2.3 Producing for self-expression and self-actualization

The third way that people take with UGM is to produce and publish their own content
(e.g., videos, pictures, blogs, and personal home pages) on the sites. According to a
recent survey, 40 percent of American consumers are creating their own entertainment
such as editing movies, music and photos. While youths aged 13-24 are the majority of
the creators at 56 percent, matures aged 61-75 are also beginning creating their own
content (August et al., 2007). It is also observed that every day users upload more than
65,000 new videos to YouTube and more than 6 million photos to Facebook, most of the
videos or photos being created by users themselves (see Idato, 2006; McGirt, 2007). All
these numbers show that producing on UGM has occurred on a considerable scale.
While many old or new media have also provided a space for users to produce, UGM
grow out of and are specifically designed for peoples producing behavior. Producing is
essentially the lifeblood of user-generated sites: without user-generated content, UGM
INTR would not exist. The question is: what factors motivate people to produce on
19,1 user-generated sites? It is likely that people produce content to inform and entertain
others (Bowman and Willis, 2003), or to trigger others responses and participations.
Assuming that humans are self-interested, this article focuses on how the
self-expression and self-actualization needs drive peoples producing activity on UGM.
Self-expression refers to the expression of ones own identity, especially ones
14 individuality. It is assumed that people have a need to present their true or inner self
to the outside world, and to have others know them as they know themselves
(Goffman, 1959; McKenna and Bargh, 1999; Swann, 1983). On user-generated sites,
such need can be fulfilled through blogging, video casting, and other self-presentation
activities, which allow the significance of who one is and what one does to show
himself/herself. Sometimes self-expression is explicit, through direct self-disclosure;
and sometimes it is implicit, through choices of topic, words, illustrations, and style
(VanLear et al., 2005). Both approaches can help people construct a certain image of self
and claim an identity for themselves. For individuals who feel highly constrained by
the roles to which they adhere in their daily life, and thus do not express self-aspects
that conflict with those roles, it may be more likely that they are driven to the Internet
to give these aspects expression (McKenna and Bargh, 1999). Such self-expression is
often accompanied by the sense of being cut off from down-to-earth sights, sounds,
textures, and emotions of everyday existence (see Toffler, 1980, p. 404).
Furthermore, self-expression can be a process by which people attempt to control
the impressions others have of them (Dominick, 1999; Jones and Pittman, 1982). As an
individual engages in selective self-expression, even if the receiver processes this
information rationally, there should still be the selective (often positively skewed)
impression that the sender has intended (Walther et al., 2005). Such impression
management is clearly evident in the context of personal home pages and blogs on the
web. Papacharissi (2002) claims that personal home pages enable their authors to stage
an online performance through which the individuals personality or aspects of it are
revealed. The authors actively engage in certain strategies to present the self, attract
readers, and foster supportive relationships (Dominick, 1999; Smith, 1999; Walker,
2000). It has been found that authors who view their personal home pages as
self-expression tools post more personal information, whereas those who use their
pages as professional tools avoid posting personal information online (Papacharissi,
2002). Similarly, a blog can be considered a self-reflective account that serves the
purpose of personal expression (Trammell and Keshelashvili, 2005). It provides a
mechanism for personal publishing and represents the deliberate expression of ones
feelings and thoughts (Walker, 2000). A content analysis of the most-linked-to blogs
confirms that A-list bloggers reveal more information about themselves than other
bloggers and actively engage in impression management (Trammell and
Keshelashvili, 2005).
In addition to self-expression, another important factor that motivates people to
produce is self-actualization, which can be broadly defined as working on ones own
identity and reflecting on ones own personality (Trepte, 2005, p. 170). The motive for
self-actualization is primarily unconscious (Mook, 1996), but it can be considered a
psychological motive that triggers certain behavioral goals of online producing such as
seeking recognition, fame, or personal efficacy (see Bughin, 2007; Kollock, 1999;
Rheingold, 1993). On Wikipedia, people can create new items or edit existing items,
with results that are immediate, obvious, and available to the world. Such contributing The appeal of
experience can help people believe that they have an impact on the group and that user-generated
support their own self-image as an efficacious person (see Bandura, 1995; Kollock). For
many users of YouTube and MySpace, desire for fame is the primary motivation for media
publishing their own content on these sites (Bughin, 2007). Take LA-based singer
Terra Naomi as an example. She has used her YouTube channel to sing directly to the
audience since February 2006. Thanks to such exposure, Naomi has changed herself 15
from struggling singer to major label darling (she has signed to Island Records)
(Rivera, 2007). Given their huge audience traffic, YouTube, MySpace, and other sites
expect to attract an increasing number of little guys who produce there for gaining
fame.

2.4 Interdependence of consuming, participating, and producing

The three UGM usages of consuming, participating, and producing are analytically
separate but are interdependent in various aspects (see Figure 3). First of all, the three
activities may represent a path of gradual involvement with UGM. People begin their
relationship with UGM as consumer or lurkers. In order to seek information and
entertainment, people visit user-generated sites to consume the content there, but they
do not participate or contribute. After breaking through some barriers, individuals
participate through interacting with the content and other users. Such interaction can
help them build and maintain social connection as well as virtual communities. Finally,
people come to produce the content on UGM. Producing is primarily an act of
self-expression and self-actualization, both of which are aimed at constructing personal
identity. It is noted that the path of gradual involvement from consuming to

Figure 3.
Interdependence of
peoples consuming,
participating, and
producing on
user-generated media
INTR participating to producing is not followed by everyone. For example, some people may
19,1 not respond to others content but they may publish their own work on the sites. In
addition, there may be an involvement inequality among UGM users. It has been found
that most users do not participate or create: they simply lurk in the background. In
contrast, a minority of users usually accounts for a large amount of the content and
other system activity (see Bughin, 2007; Nielsen, 2006).
16 As shown in Figure 3, producing is on the top part of this model. It initiates the life
cycle of UGM since without user-produced content UGM would not exist. Specifically,
the content is produced by an individual for the purpose of attracting others attention
and soliciting others responses such as ranking, comment, and dissemination.
Through exchanging their opinion/information about such content, other users may
fulfill their social interaction needs, and even form virtual communities. On the other
hand, the responses of other users imply responses to producers self-expression and
self-actualization. Theoretically, such responses would encourage subsequent content
creation from the original producers. In addition, the participating population can be
considered a talent pool that includes many potential producers.
The content is also produced for attracting the attention of a larger number of
consumers, and dynamic producing provides abundant information and entertainment
for people to consume. Like participating, consuming can reinforce peoples producing
behavior since producers self-expression and self-actualization can be partly fulfilled
by consumers clicks. Also, as the bottom part of the model, the consuming population
constitutes a larger talent pool than the participating one, from which more producers
may emerge.
In addition, participating can contribute to peoples consuming. For example,
posting comments can help consumers further their understanding of certain content;
rating can help people easily find the most popular videos, music, or blogs; and
sharing with others directly brings certain contents to someone for his/her
consumption. On the other hand, consumers may become participants, thus helping
enlarge the participating population and develop virtual communities.

3. Greater usability, greater gratifications

So far this paper has analyzed three activities that people perform on user-generated
sites and the motivations behind each activity. The fact is that people can perform
these activities on such traditional Internet venues as Yahoo and AOL. So what makes
UGM, especially those highly successful ones, particularly appealing? The answer can
exist in their great usability. Established in human-computer interaction design,
usability refers to the software features that support users activities (Preece, 2000). It is
argued that software with great usability is consistent, controllable, and predictable so
that people can perform their tasks easily, efficiently, and pleasantly (Preece, 2000;
Shneiderman, 1998). In this section, two usability features of UGM are examined for
explaining how these features enhance peoples gratification.
One important feature is that UGM are easy to use. No matter what people do, such
as consuming, participating, or producing, they can do it easily. A survey conducted by
the Pew Internet Project reports that peoples science-related knowledge-seeking on
Wikipedia is driven much more by convenience (i.e. easy to use this site to find
information) than a sense that the science information on Wikipedia is more accurate
than other sources (Rainie and Tancer, 2007). Another example is YouTube. If people
want to upload their videos to YouTube, they just need to take a few simple steps, and The appeal of
uploading can be finished in about 1 to 5 minutes for every 1 MB data[3]. user-generated
Easy to use enables users to input very little, but the output for users may come in
abundance. On MySpace, for instance, an individual creates a profile and gives only media
minimal personal information, but in return he/she could browse millions of random
profiles, discover new music and post events, find friends who have disappeared for
years, and possibly meet someone who might become his/her spouse. Users can do 17
most of these things offline, but they do on MySpace in a more efficient way. It is
argued that one reason of why MySpace and YouTube are highly successful is that
they provide users with very efficient Internet experience: they often ask very little of
users but in return gratify them a lot. This is actually consistent with utility theory,
which suggests that people often desire those things that will maximize their utility, i.e.
the greatest pleasure (Bentham, 1988; Stigler, 1950). Such gratification experience is
also consistent with Wolfs (1999) observation that nowadays people have limited time
so that if they invest time in entertainment, they tend to demand more intense, more
concentrated, and more satisfying returns.
In addition to easy to use, UGM let users be in control. Users control what they
want, when they want, and where they want. In other words, users are not constrained
by the computer systems. Such control appeals to people not only technically but also
psychologically. Many scholars have identified control as a primary motivation for
using the Internet (Flaherty et al., 1998; Papacharissi and Rubin, 2000), and individuals
who have a strong internal locus of control may be especially susceptible to the allure of
the Internet (Wallace, 1999). In case of user-generated sites, the ability of control can be
considered an important factor that enhances peoples gratifications. We may find
evidence by analyzing three types of control that users can exert on the sites.
The first type of control is interpersonal control. Such communication modes as
e-mail and message boards allow people to interact with each other without space and
time constraints (see Burgoon et al., 2000; Kaye, 2005; McKenna and Bargh, 2000). On
MySpace, individuals can build a connection and friendship with somebody in a
far-away city or country. They can also leave a message on the friends profile and then
check whether their friends have logged in and received that message. In addition,
UGM allow people to interact without personal restriction and criticism. For example,
individuals may fully participate in online discussion, or they may choose to be more
passive and aloof (Kaye, 2005). Individuals may also easily choose to ignore bad
behavior- their own or others-and the mediating screen and interface is to an extent a
protection from embarrassment (Chan, 2006).
The user-generated content has become increasingly asynchronic and dynamic,
thus enabling people to exert content-based control. Being asynchronic implies that the
content is available as time-shifted and place-shifted on the basis of user preferences.
For example, YouTube allows users to have favorite videos so that it is easy for them
to view the same videos repeatedly. Cooperating with mobile operators, YouTube also
allows users to watch the videos from anywhere their mobile devices get a signal
(Verizon Wireless, 2006). In addition, it has been suggested that media contents
dynamically respond to individual actions (see Barker and Tucker, 1990; Hester, 1999;
McMillan, 2006). This is being realized on user-generated sites, where content can be
packaged, hyperlinked, and arranged in dynamic ways on the basis of consumer
specific requests, knowledge, and data (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2006).
INTR UGM also allow users to exert interface-based control by providing highly
19,1 customized features, making a web site highly responsive to the unique and individual
needs of each user (Kramer et al., 2000; Milheim, 1996). So far almost all UGM have
enabled users to customize their profiles and channels, through adding color and
sound, managing their playlists, editing their personal information, and many other
ways. Customization provides individuals with an opportunity to express their
18 interests, tastes, thoughts, and values. It also has the potential to generate positive
attitudes and behaviors towards the sites (Carpenter, 2000; Graham, 2002;
Kalyanaraman and Sundar, 2006).
Simon (1971) notes that we have entered into an attention economy, where a wealth
of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention
efficiently among the overabundance of information and entertainment sources that
might consume it. By simplifying systems usability, maximizing peoples utility, and
giving people multiple controls, UGM have been at the cutting edge to help people allot
their attention efficiently and thus give people great gratification.

4. Conclusions
UGM have attracted an extraordinary audience and are changing the traditional media
landscape. This article presented an analytical framework for explaining the appeal of
UGM from a uses and gratifications perspective. It argued that individuals make use of
UGM in different ways for different purposes. First, individuals consume
user-generated contents for fulfilling their information, entertainment, and mood
management needs. As an emerging source of information, UGM have been heavily
influencing the concept and results of online searching. Compared with information
seeking, however, entertainment may be more important in triggering UGM use. In
particular, YouTube and its many imitators have dramatically reduced entertainment
content to light, bright, and digestible snack food so that users can consume it with
increased frequency and maximum speed. Also, through the consumption of the
entertaining messages, UGM users may be able to alter their prevailing mood states,
though the empirical test of this proposition is challenging.
Second, individuals take advantage of user-generated sites to interact with the
content and other human beings. This participating activity often functions in
enhancing social connections and virtual communities. The huge popularity of such
sites as MySpace and Facebook has provided support for the positive view that
individuals can fulfill their social needs through interacting online with one another.
Interaction among users can also contribute to the formation and maintenance of
virtual communities, where people gather due to shared interests, sociability, identity,
and s sense of communion. Given that virtual communities are often built around
user-generated contents, responding to content is argued to be an integral part of
community development since it can reinforce dynamic content creation.
Third, people produce their own contents on user-generated sites for self-expression
and self-actualization, both of which may ultimately be aimed at constructing their
own identity. Self-expression can be achieved through such online behaviors as
blogging and video casting. It not only allows the significance of who one is and what
one does to show himself/herself, but also enables one to control the impressions others
have of him/her. In addition to self-expression, peoples producing activity is also
driven by self-actualization, which is reflected in such goals of online producing as The appeal of
seeking recognition, fame, or personal efficacy. user-generated
Although the three UGM usages are analytically separate, in reality they are
interdependent. They support one another, directly or indirectly, by helping people media
fulfill their respective social and psychological needs. This article proposed a model to
describe such interdependence. It is noted that while these activities may represent a
path of gradual involvement with UGM, i.e. from consuming to participating, and 19
producing, such path is not followed by all users; also, there is an involvement
inequality among users.
Furthermore, this article argued that two usability aspects of UGM, easy to use
and let users control, enable people to consume, participate, and/or produce in a
highly efficient and controllable way so that people can derive greater gratification
from UGM use. Easy to use allows users to input very little, but the output for users
may come in abundance. This is consistent with utility theory, which suggests people
desire those things that will maximize their pleasure. Let users control involves
interpersonal control, content-based control, and interface-based control. It is argued
that these kinds of control appeals to people not only technically, but also
psychologically.

5. Future research directions

The framework presented in this article not only integrated existing research findings
from the U&G and other social psychological literature, but could also be a starting
point for a systematic and empirical study of UGMs operation, functions, usages,
effects, and appeal in general. Methodologically, standardized surveys should be
employed to empirically examine peoples consuming, participating, and producing
behaviors and motivations. Such surveys can be complemented by a qualitative
content analysis of posted videos, blogs, home pages, comments, and other documents
to show what meanings users may actually obtain from their UGM use. Also,
well-designed experimental research is much needed to test the application of such
theories as mood management and utility theory. The questions for mood management
researchers include: What does the high flexibility in selective exposure on
user-generated web sites mean for mood management research? Is the confusing
abundance of consumer choice producing stress and dissatisfaction? How does the
ranking practice affect peoples selecting exposure? Does it mean people prefer to have
less rather than more choices? Addressing these kinds of questions can
significantly further our understanding on mood management. In addition, utility
theory has outlined several criteria to assess peoples pleasure, including intensity,
duration, certainty, propinquity, fecundity, purity, and extent (Bentham, 1988). Future
research may qualify these concepts for measuring users gratifications from UGM and
even for comparing UGM with other media.
It is worth noting that UGM entail a variety of activities that are driven by very
complex human motives and have diverse and divergent consequences on individuals
and society as well. Although the current study has attempted to present a big
picture of peoples UGM use, it cannot be considered completely representative of the
UGM phenomenon. For instance, the article employed several key concepts to
respectively explain why people consume, participate, and produce, but there must be
some other factors that affect peoples motivations. Also, individual differences in
INTR socio-demographic and personality characteristics could play an important role in
19,1 predicting peoples use of UGM. This paper briefly mentioned such differences, but it
did not explore them in detail due to the lack of empirical evidence. Additionally, UGM
are a broad category, which include various venues such as video-sharing sites,
picture-sharing sites, and social networking sites. A kind of macro-analysis as
conducted by this article may conceal some micro-level differences, which have
20 different implications for peoples uses and gratification. Still the question remains
whether the ultimate goal of UGM is individualism or community. Such question
comes from scholars observation of the general Internet use (see Ruggiero, 2000;
Singer, 1998), but it becomes more prominent in the context of UGM, where a combined
media experience of personalized content and community tools is basically built in.
Future studies will have to take all of the above issues into account if they attempt to
further our understanding of UGM use.

Notes
1. Sometimes individuals upload the content created by professional media companies. This
can be considered a kind of participating since it essentially involves privately sharing the
content with others; but it can also function as producing since the content is publicized on
the sites.
2. These data were obtained on September 20, 2007, from MySpace web site: http://groups.
myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction groups.categories
3. This information was retrieved on August 18, 2007, from YouTube web site: www.google.
com/support/youtube/bin/answer.py?answer 55746&topic 10525

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Further reading
Papacharissi, Z. (2002), The self online: the utility of personal home pages, Journal of
Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Vol. 46 No. 3, pp. 346-68.
Seelye, K.Q. (2007), Debates to connect candidates and voters online, available at: www.
nytimes.com/2007/07/23/us/politics/23youtube.html?ex 1189828800&en 0391fb3f
09908572&ei 5070# (accessed September 29, 2007).

Corresponding author
Guosong Shao can be contacted at: gshao@bama.ua.edu

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