Gratificationa Associated with Snapchat Usage Among GenZ

Abstract

Social media has become an everyday media diet for media users, especially young

generations. Previous studies have focused on the use of Facebook and Twitter, but there is a dearth

of research on newer social media such as Snapchat despite its fast growth and adoption in recent

years. This study applies the uses and gratifications approach to Snapchat in order to identify what

activities younger users are likely to do while using Snapchat, to investigate what kinds of

gratifications are associated with Snapchat usage among GenZ. An online survey completed by 148

respondents identified six different gratifications, namely, enjoyment, passing time, information

seeking, self presentation and social interaction. Some of the study’s prominent findings are: young

people usually use Snapchat for enjoyment and most importantly for exchanging snaps. Theoretical

and practical implications of these findings are discussed, as well as suggestions for future research.