Examination of individuals' behaviours and motivations for social media usage from the perspective of uses and gratifications approach: an application in Eskişehir

The overall objective of this dissertation is to explore the general patterns of social media usage of the individuals and their basic motivations from the perspective of ?uses and gratifications approach?. The province of Eskişehir is taken as the research universe for this purpose. In the introductory first chapter of the thesis, a conceptual framework is offered. In the second chapter, there is the literature survey for the purpose of drawing the theoretical framework. In the third chapter, the method of this research is explained. The research is designed according to the general survey model whereby both quantitative and qualitative techniques are used. The questionnaire was applied to 401 persons and both descriptive and inferential statistics are used for the analysis. In the fourth chapter under the title ?Findings and Interpretations? the existing data are interpreted in the light of above-mentioned analysis. The fifth chapter is devoted to the results of the research and proposals. This research shows that the age group that uses the social media most frequently is that of 15-24 and the most frequently used social media platform is the ?social network sites?. On the other hand, it is shown that the most powerful motivating elements for the use of social media are `keeping track of the facts? and `entertainment?. Moreover, it is shown that the most frequent behaviour that the individuals tend to display is that of consuming which is followed by participation and production.