Uses and Gratifications of Social Networking Sites: Towards the Construction of a Measuring Instrument

Social media sites have attracted users since their introduction, and today people use them in their daily activities. For this reason, there is an increased interest in studying social media sites and how people use them. However, there has been little research that considers the motivations in using social networking sites and the factors that influence this usage patterns. The purpose of this empiric research paper is to construct a valid instrument that can shed light on why people are using social media on a daily basis, based on the premises of the uses and gratifications theory. Results from the Cronbach alpha, as well as the estimated model suggested that in general, it represented a good instrument when trying to measure the motivations of social media usage.