Elsevier

Computers in Human Behavior

Volume 75, October 2017, Pages 870-875
Computers in Human Behavior

Investigating the relationships among college students' satisfaction, addiction, needs, communication apprehension, motives, and uses & gratifications with Snapchat

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.06.034Get rights and content

Highlights

  • Snapchat offers functional features that meet need of high apprehension individuals.

  • Snapchat is used because it is fun and practical.

  • As needs are met, users' satisfaction with Snapchat increases.

Abstract

Snapchat is a popular communication mode for college students. In this study, 475 college students reported their communication behaviors regarding their Snapchat use and other variables related to Snapchat, such as addiction and needs. Results indicated that college students are satisfied using Snapchat. Findings showed that there was a significant relationship between participant needs (entertainment and functional) with Snapchat addiction, intensity, and exhibitionism. Further, there is a relationship between participant needs (entertainment and functional) with communication apprehension (social media and Snapchat).

Section snippets

Uses and gratifications

Katz, Blumler, and Gurevitch (1973) developed the uses and gratifications theory (UGT) and identified eight types of uses and gratifications: 1) passing time, 2) companionship, 3) escape, 4) enjoyment, 5) social interaction, 6) relaxation, 7) information, and 8) excitement. A major contribution from UGT is the notion of an active audience that is not simply permeated by media content but rather consumes media with an end-goal in mind (Katz et al., 1973). Although research detailing UGT and

Participants

Participants in this study were recruited via a listserv at a southwestern university. The sample consisted of 347 females (73.1%), 121 males (25.5%), and 7 who did not identify (1.5%). The mean age for the same was 20.59 (SD = 1.95). All but 4 of the 475 participants had Snapchat accounts. Most of the participants are active Snapchat users only 18 (3.8%) said that they average 0 Snapchats per day, but 84 (17%) sent 1 to 3 per day, 123 (25.9%) send 3 to 10 per day, and 250 (52.6%) send 10 plus

Results

Hypothesis one predicted a relationship would exist between participant needs (entertainment and functional) with communication apprehension (social media and Snapchat). A canonical correlation was calculated using entertainment and functional as the independent variables and social media CA and Snapchat CA as the dependent variables. Using Wilks' Λ, the overall model was significant, Wilks' Λ = 0.88, F (4, 844) = 14.40, p < 0.005, which indicates that the two variates are significantly

Discussion

First, findings from this study revealed that there is a relationship between participant needs (entertainment and functional) with communication apprehension (social media and Snapchat). Specifically, there were functional needs for a person who has a high level of communication apprehension to use Snapchat more than someone who has a low level of communication apprehension. As suggested by Papacharissi and Rubin (2000), the Internet and social media, like Snapchat serves as an alternative

Limitations and conclusion

As with all research, the current study is not without limitations. First, our measures of Snapchat were embedded into a larger survey that averaged about half an hour to complete, because qualitative questions were asked as well. Therefore, the length of the questionnaire invites the possibility of fatigue. Second, the sample was predominantly female, and composed primarily of college students. Future research should ascertain the generality of our findings using samples of other demographic

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