Uses and Gratitfications Theory

The Uses and Gratitfications theory has an audience with the hands on approach, the theory is centred around the audience by seeing what they do with media rather than seeing what media does to the consumer. This allows the audience to take an active role in finding out what media is and how it affects their lives. The theory makes the audience responsible for choosing the type of media that meets their needs, for example if a consumer enjoys indie music they wouldn't buy a sweet girly pop magazine meaning, they can choose the genre of the magazine by the image of a celebrity, colours, fonts and text size on the cover. The approach suggests that people use the media to furfill specific gratifications (satisfactions). So this theory would then imply the media compete against other information for the viewers gratification. This shows me how effective the front cover of a magazine is to the audience and will help me design and create my music magazine. By me knowing this it can help me know what my target audince needs and want from my magazine.