The rise of email newsletters as a popular means of engaging audiences has transformed the landscape of journalism and news dissemination. Marketers and news organisations alike have recognised the potential of newsletters as an effective way to reach and engage with their audiences. This thesis aims to contribute to the understanding of this growing phenomenon by exploring the motivations behind news consumers accessing news via newsletters and then identifying patterns of user behaviour.   Legacy media outlets, such as The New York Times and Axios, have also adopted newsletters to enhance audience engagement and generate revenues. Email newsletters, unlike traditional newspapers, often focus on specific topics or niches, demanding regular, high-quality content for success. Despite the significant growth of newsletter journalism, academic research on the phenomenon and users' behaviour remains limited. The study seeks to address this gap by applying the uses and gratification theory, which suggests that people consume media for various purposes, including entertainment, education, and information. By conducting a survey and interviews among European newsletter readers, the research aims to begin to understand the motivations driving news consumers to subscribe to newsletters and identify typical consumption patterns. The exploratory study found that personal and cognitive needs play significant roles in motivating newsletter readers, while social and affective needs may have less influence.   In conclusion, this thesis contributes to the understanding of changes in online news consumption by shedding light on the motivations behind news consumers' preference for newsletters and their behaviour in this evolving digital landscape. Understanding users' needs and expectations is essential for journalists and news organisations to adapt and thrive in today’s dynamic media environment.

Two topics currently lead the debates in the museum sector: audience development and the use of digital media. This study addresses these debates by investigating how gamified mobile applications can support engagement with museums’ topics. It examines the online audience and their motivations for the use of media. It uses “MuseumStars” - which can be characterized as a museums quiz app for remote use - as a case study. Based on the uses and gratifications theory the study uses a mixed-methods approach. An online survey and two focus groups were conducted. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, factor analysis, and qualitative content analysis. The findings show that the main user motivation is to learn new things and to prepare or substitute a museum visit. In contrast to other research on mobile gaming, the connection to the physical space played a crucial role in using the application, while competition was less prominent. The findings also demonstrate that to better accommodate the audience's needs content is key. Hence, it can be concluded that digital media per se will not enhance engagement without the right presentation of the content: It must be translated to the media in an appropriate way to support the uses and gratifications of the audience and thus enhance engagement with museums’ topics.

The Disney Princess Brand includes 11 Disney Princess films from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) to Brave (2012). The goal of this campaign is for audiences to be entertained by the narratives while encouraging identification with the princesses in the films (Do Rozario, 2004; Orenstein, 2006). Scholars have suggested possible media effects of representations and messages depicted related to gender roles (England, Descartes, and Collier-Meek, 2011) and romantic relationships (Segrin and Nabi, 2002). No studies to date have examined the potential correlation between media effects of all 11 Disney Princess films and viewers' expectations regarding romantic relationships with a theoretical background in cultivation theory, social cognitive theory, wishful identification, and uses and gratification theory. The purpose of this thesis was to explore the relationship between potential media effects due to watching Disney Princess films and expectations of romantic relationships. An online cross-sectional survey was administered to female undergraduate students enrolled at Virginia Tech (N = 110). Bivariate correlation analyses were computed to measure the data. Results did not support hypotheses related to motivations for watching Disney Princess films, cultivated ideologies due to exposure of all films, and perceived similarity to princesses in relation to idealistic beliefs of romantic relationships. Wishful identification with the princesses was significantly correlated with participants' idealistic beliefs of romantic relationships. Possible implications are that participants in late adolescence (18 - 23 years of age) wish to be like the Disney princesses and to have similar romantic relationships that are represented in the films. / Master of Arts

I den här studien undersöks hur användningen av sociala medier ser ut, när socialt kommunikativa gymnasieungdomar med stor social tillhörighet, umgås. Studien ämnar ta reda på hur användningen ser ut, av vilka anledningar socialt kommunikativa ungdomar med social tillhörighet använder sociala medier och hur umgängesklimatet påverkas när sociala medier används under fysiskt pågående umgänge.  Idén till studien grundar sig i en observation av ungdomar med ovan presenterade egenskaper, som under tiden de umgås med sina vänner frekvent använder sociala medier. En kvalitativ intervjustudie genomförs med utgångspunkt i den medie- och kommunikationsvetenskapliga teorin Uses and gratification theory samt Social identity theory, som är en välanvänd teori bland tidigare genomförd forskning inom sociala medier. Fem djupintervjuer genomförs således och vid avkodning av intervjumaterialet utkristalliseras tre huvudspår, utifrån frågeställningarna och fem underkategorier: ”Hur använder socialt kommunikativa ungdomar, med social tillhörighet, sociala medier när de umgås med sina vänner?”, ”Av vilka anledningar använder kommunikativa ungdomar med social trygghet sociala medier?” med tillhörande underkategorier, identitetsskapande, Fear of missing out, brist på underhållning, sociala medier som tillflykt samt vanebeteende och slutligen ”Hur påverkas umgängesklimatet när sociala medier används?” Resultatet visar, bland annat, att ungdomarna ofta väljer att använda sociala medier för att ta paus och hämta ny energi för att sedan orka vara sociala, i det pågående umgänget, igen.

The aim of this study is to seek fundamental uses and gratifications of a social networking website, Facebook as a case, and the possible advantages and the challenges of utilization of Facebook for instructional activities. The research study encompassed four main steps / the analysis of uses &amp / gratifications of Facebook, the analysis of Facebook utilization possibilities for instruction, the interviewing for two preceding steps, and the realization and analysis of a course on Facebook. In the study both qualitative and quantitative data were gathered through questionnaires, interviews and open-ended questions. The qualitative data was analyzed according to qualitative data analysis techniques and quantitative data was analyzed using SPSS software. The results showed that Facebook which is perceived as a usable tool has a potential utilization for instructional activities. As quite new context, the participants seemed concerned about participating any learning activity on Facebook. Most of the participants in all steps of the study emphasized that Facebook should be a supplementary material for instructional activities. It is concluded that individual differences and alternative methods must be studied for better integration of Facebook into education.

Background: LANs are popular due to the unique social features where gamers share the samepassion, meet, and compete with like-minded gamers. Further, a LAN forms new and unexploredfeelings and impressions for gamers; therefore, it should be further explored. Therefore,understanding the gamers' motivations will allow for a better understanding of the unexploredbenefits gained. Purpose: By studying the phenomenon of LANs, this research aims to explore the motivationsfor attending a LAN by discovering and understanding the connection between benefits andmotivations. Method: To fulfil the purpose of this thesis, being of exploratory nature, qualitative research wasused. The empirical data was accumulated through fifteen semi-structured interviews. The datahas been analysed and interpreted using an abductive approach incorporating a thematic analysis. Conclusion: This study explored the motivations and benefits of LAN attendance from a U&Gperspective. The findings showed three motivations for attending a LAN competition, diversionand social interaction. Furthermore, the gained benefits are rewards, information, skills, escape,entertainment, relationships, socialisation and finding new teammates. The analysis resulted indeveloping a conceptual model illustrating the motivations and benefits.

Background: Social media has become a crucial aspect of individuals lives and it has provided businesses with a unique opportunity to connect with their customers. Instagram has grown to become one of the most widely used social networking sites in the world and there is a diversity of motivations of why consumers choose to engage with brand-related content on social media. The diversity in motivations should be studied to gain comprehensive understanding of consumer engagement and with the growing diversity of the Swedish population a challenge is presented for marketers looking to connect with consumers from various cultural backgrounds. Purpose: The purpose is to explore how people with diverse cultural backgrounds in Sweden experience their motivations for engagement with brand-related content on social media.  Method: This thesis is of qualitative nature where nine semi-structured interviews were conducted with women in the age of 20-30 who engaged with brand-related content on Instagram. The research adopted phenomenology as its strategy and used thematic analysis to find the themes connected to the participants experiences. Conclusion: The combined set of motivational factors for engaging with brand-related content, at various levels on Instagram, were the same for both cultural groups. However, the motivations which was experienced had both differences and similarities. It was concluded that some differences could be explained by the collectivistic and individualistic background of the participants, however, the differences were mainly based on the personality of the individual since differences were also indicated among participants within the same cultural group.

Med det ökade användandet av visuellt baserade sociala medier har Instagram blivit en viktig plattform för företag att skapa och stärka relationer med sina kunder. Genom att skapa innehåll baserat på kundens behov kan öka kundengagemanget vilket i sin tur har stor påverkan på kundrelationen och företagets försäljning. Denna studie avser att undersöka vilket innehåll som skapar högt respektive lågt engagemang på företaget Estrids Instagram-konto @Heyestrid och vilka behov som innehållet vill tillfredsställa för användaren. Tidigare forskning analyserar vilka faktorer som visar på ökad popularitet vid varumärkes inlägg och värdet i att engagera kunder. Metoden som tillämpas i denna studie är en kvantitativ innehållsanalys och sedan användes de teoretiska utgångspunkterna för att analysera insamlad data. Teorin utgick från bland annat användarmodellen och dubbel processteori. Empirin bestod av två månaders inlägg på Estrids Instagram-konto och sammanlagt 104 inlägg analyserades. Engagemanget mäts genom medelvärdet av antalet gillningar och kommentarer på inläggen och innehållet kategoriserades utifrån kategorierna underhållning, information, tävling, produkter, influencer och övrigt innehåll. Resultatet visade att inlägg som innehåller tävlingar hade högst engagemang via både gillningar och kommentarer. Därefter kom produkter, övrigt innehåll och information. Lägst engagemang hade kategorin influencer. Användarmodellen visar att de genomgående behoven som Estrid vill försöka fylla för kunden är det emotionella, kognitiva och socialt integrerande behovet. / With the increasing use of visually based social media, Instagram has become an important platform for companies to create and strengthen customer relationships. By focusing on producing content that the customer wants, customer engagement will rise which has a major impact on both the customer relationship and the company’s sale. This stydy aims to investigate which content creates high and low engagement on the company Estrid’s Instagram account @Heyestrid and to see which needs the content tries to satisfy for the user. Previous research analyzes the factors that show increased popularity of brand contributions and the value of engaging customers. The method used in this study is a content analysis and the collected data was analysed using collected theory such as uses and gratification theory and dual process theory. Two months worth of posts were analysed with a total of 104 posts from Estrid’s Instagram account. The engagement were measured by likes and comments and content were divided in the categories; entertainment, information, competition, products, influencers and other. The results showed that posts containing competitions had the highest engagement followed by products, information and other content. The entertainment category was the most published but had the second lowest engagement. The category influencers had the lowest engagement. According to the uses and gratifications theory the needs that Estrid wants to fulfill are the emotional, cognitive and socially integrated needs.

The current paper addresses the associations between video game content (i.e., physically aggressive, relationally aggressive, and prosocial) and physical aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior in two distinct developmental periods. The purpose of the paper is to test whether playing video games with a particular type of content influences behaviors over time, or whether individuals who have higher levels of physical aggression, relational aggression, or prosocial behavior prefer to play games with similar content. Two theories will be simultaneously examined and tested in order to determine the relative merit in using each in research examining the relationships between video game content and positive and negative behaviors. More specifically, this paper will address the General Aggression Model/General Learning Model (GAM/GLM) and the Uses and Gratification Theory. The GAM/GLM, at their core, predict that exposure to video game content will build a cognitive schema which will guide how an individual should behave when confronted with a later social encounter (Anderson & Bushman, 2002). Contrarily, Uses and Gratification would suggest that a person chooses to play video games with a particular type of content, and that video games should not influence behavior. Specifically, according to the theory, individuals should seek out video games in order to fulfill their inward feelings and motivations (e.g., an individual with aggressive tendencies would play games with more violent and aggressive content) (Katz, Blumler, & Gurevitch, 1973; Whiting & Williams, 2013). A careful analysis showed a significant relationship between each type of video game content and its' corresponding behavior among adolescents, which supports the assumptions of the GAM and GLM. There was no relationship between video game content and behavior among preschoolers. With the exception of relational aggression of physically aggressive content, there was no support for Uses and Gratification Theory, in that preschoolers' and adolescents' levels of physical aggression, relational aggression, and prosocial behavior were not related to the preference for video games with different types of content. The analysis adds significantly to the current literature by showing a relationship between video game content and behavior over a four year period.

This study researches communication 2020-2021 via the Tinder dating app in Sweden during the COVID-19 pandemic, using a framework of mediatization, uses and gratification theory and affordance theory. Data collection was performed using qualitative interviews via Zoom video calls with respondents based in Sweden and findings were analyzed using thematic analysis.  Results of the study discusses phenomena when the physical world and a mediatized one interlock: even though the Tinder app afforded people to connect during the COVID-19 pandemic, the worlds are not independent of each other. Uncertainty and stress could seep into the dating app practice and create a hindrance to easy communication, even though the Tinder app was trying to accommodate the changing times. The study explores that the dehumanizing aspect of reducing a person to a single attribute and deleting that person is connected to a heightened affordance of gamification of relationships that is connected to deep mediatization, moments of our everyday practices immersed in new kinds of mediated communication. Steered behaviour from the app occurs in the Tinder interface which this paper explores, connected to data-driven decision making, a critical tool allowing mobile app developers to not only figure out customer behaviour but also to design customised products. Connected here is the mediatized interplay between humans and technology. If the Tinder app was hard to set up or navigate, the different needs and gratifications would not be met and users would simply vanish.  This paper argues the Tinder app design encourages speed and has coded distractions to actually work against the perceived gratification of meeting a partner and ultimately rendering the service redundant. The COVID-19 pandemic, this thesis explores, has spurred different generations to adapt to new practices and technologies but that these affordances do not always correlate to new dating app practices such as video dating. A mediatized way of meeting physically has been brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. An additional step has been added to online dating practices, the walk, which has 2 lowered the threshold of the initial date by being perceived as an easier option. A direct consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic connected to online dating. This paper also argues intimacy through media sharing, such as humour and jokes via technology in a mediatized world. Lastly, this paper explores the safety aspects of the Tinder app, connected to catfishing and also gender blindness.