Selçuk iletiŞİM

Instant Messaging Use Among University Students (81-96)
83
is fundamentally different than another tradi-
tional approach known by its concern for “me-
dia effects”. The “media effects” tradition
concerns itself with “what media to do people”.
In contrast, uses and gratifications can be seen
as part of a broader trend among media re-
searchers that is more concerned with “what
people do with media” an approach that allows
for a variety of responses and interpretations
(Park 2004: 25-26). Uses and gratifications is a
tradition of media research that focuses on the
needs of individuals which they seek to gratify
through media use (Flanagin 2005: 177).
In the classic article, Katz, Blumler & Gure-
vitch (1974: 510) also stated the primary con-
cerns of this approach as: (1) the social and
psychological origins of (2) needs, which gen-
erate (3) expectations of (4) the mass media or
other sources which leads to (5) differential
patterns of media exposure (or engagement in
other activities), resulting in (6) need gratifica-
tions and (7) other consequences, perhaps
mostly unintended ones. Thus the social and
psychological characteristics of people influ-
ence their motivations for using media sources
(Charney 1996: 6).
Uses and gratifications researchers assume that
audience members actively search out media
messages to satisfy certain needs, a change
from earlier assumptions that audience mem-
bers were an undifferentiated mass that pas-
sively receives media messages. Specifically,
the uses and gratifications approach assumes
that (a) the audience is active, (b) media use is
goal directed, (c) media consumption can fill a
wide range of needs, (d) people have enough
self-awareness to know and articulate their
reasons for using the media, and (e) gratifica-
tions have their origins in media content, expo-
sure, and the social context within which the
exposure takes place (McLeod & Becker 1981,
quoted, Kaye & Johnson 2002: 55).
Previous studies of the uses and gratifications
paradigm has examined gratifications associ-
ated with the use of newspaper (Erdoğan
1977), television (Rubin 1979, Rubin 1981,
Rubin 1983), VCRs (Rubin & Bantz 1987),
cable television (Abelman 1988), radio (Cox
1981, Rubin & Step 2000), telephones
(O’Keefe & Sulanowski 1995), internet (Kor-
gaonkar & Wolin 1999, Papacharissi & Rubin
2000) and electronic mail (Dimmick et al.
2000). Other studies in gratifications or bene-
fits of computer-mediated technologies such as
cellular phones (Leung & Wei 2000, Özcan &
Koçak 2003), pagers (Leung & Wei 1999),
ICQ (Leung 2001), IM (Hwang 2005, Flanagin
2005), and SMS mobile messaging (Leung
2006) suggested broad motivations which in-
cluded information viewing, conversation and
socializing, entertainment, information and
education, social escape, diversion, fashion and
status, affection, inclusion, mobility, immediate
access, reassurance, coordination, utility, con-
venience, relaxation, and communication me-
dium appeals. Recent studies are derived from
the uses and gratifications perspective, which
assert that social psychological motivations
may cause people to turn mass media for com-
panion and other gratifications.
1.2. Instant Messaging
Some additional form two-way communica-
tions are chat rooms and instant messaging
(IM). Technologies like chat rooms and instant
messaging, which enable users to communicate
on the internet with others in real time, have
been  used  for  over  a  decade  (Grinter  &  Palen
2002: 21). Some chat rooms are built in to
websites while other are located via a search
for a common theme or internet. A slight varia-
tion of chat rooms is called “instant messag-
ing” (Pawlak 2002: 6).
Instant Messaging (IM) is increasingly becom-
ing part of our daily lives. It is primarily used
for social communication and entertainment
and is mainly centered on having fun and
building of community (Zhao 2004: 3). IM has
established a popular mode of communication
for people with access to the internet. IM is a
type of communications service over the inter-
net that enables individuals to exchange text
message and track availability of a list of users
in real-time (Hwang 2005: 1). Some people do
not use it and never will, but for a rapidly
growing number of people IM is a useful
communication tool and for some it is a vital
part of their lives (Lin et al. 2007: 418). People
use IM for a variety of purposes. For example,
they would use IM to talk about homework, to
stay in touch with friends, to set up meetings,

---

Selçuk İletişim, 5, 3, 2008
84
to share multimedia files and documents, and
so on (Lee 2007: 225). The telephone is no
longer necessary for a person to be connected
constantly to his or her family and friends. One
can simply turn his or her computer on and log
onto IM. Family and friends in long-distance
relationships can maintain constant contact
over the internet as long as they use the same
IM application. IM allows user to hold simul-
taneous conversations without long distance
fees (Hwang 2005: 1).
Though as instant as a phone call, it doesn’t
require as much attention and can be more
convenient. IM allows users to find out who is
available to receive an instant message, e-mail
or even a phone call. IM is a very convenient
way to communicate quietly without disturbing
others, while maintaining privacy. It has
proven that it is less intrusive than phone calls,
and more efficient than e-mail. Moreover IM,
unlike phone calls, is inexpensive, as users can
download the software for free from the inter-
net (Zhao 2004: 3).
One of the most important features of IM cli-
ents is the ability to provide some awareness of
presence. IM clients typically provide this
information by indicating whether a user is
online and whether the user is currently active
or idle (often referred to as the user’s “Online
Status”). Most IM clients also allow users to
set additional indicators to signal whether they
are busy or away from the computer (Avrahami
& Hudson 2006: 732).
Table 1 Comparison of CMC Applications
E- Mail
Chat
IM
Interaction
Asynchronous
Nearly synchronous   Nearly synchronous
Information storage
Client 
and/or 
server 
Server
Client
Transmission route
Between client via
server
Via server
Between client directly
Information recipients
Restricted target
recipients
All authorized users 
Restricted target recipients
Message type (in most
cases)
Longer
Varied
Shorter
Communication fre-
quency (in most cases)
Several times a day
to occasional
Varied
Frequently within a time
Period
Message delay
Several second to
minutes
Instant to seconds
Instant to seconds
Typical users
All users
Recreational, cus-
tomer service, and
technical support, etc.
Recreational, some
business users
Media capability
Text, documents
Text
Text, voice, documents
IM  refers  to  a  type  of  software  program  that
uses an internet connection to send and receive
short text messages with another computer. IM
is thus a hybrid of e-mail and chat. Similar to
chat, IM allows real-time communication, yet
is typically conducted on one-on-one basis like
e-mail. Messages are transmitted and stored on
users’ computers instead of on servers, and the
server merely provides network routing infor-
mation to help initiate the exchange. Unlike
chat rooms where almost anyone can join the
discussion, or can request to join, and can talk
to anyone who is present, IM users need to
“call” first. In other words, a negotiation-of-
availability process must take place before the
actual exchange can begin. Table 1 is compari-
son summary of the three applications (Huang
& Yen 2003: 64).
On the other hand, IM presents important ad-
vantages to users in working life (Flynn 2004:
11):
·
Instant Real-Time Communication: IM
users can communicate instantaneously
with colleagues, clients, and other third
parties.

---