Los contenidos de redes sociales y la teoría de los usos y gratificaciones en estudiantes de la utmach.

Abstract

This work is based on the Theory of Uses and Gratifications and its application in the digital age, specifically to networks. It was born from the consideration of this theory being applied to traditional media, however social networks have also become spaces that allow information and interaction at the same time in these new times. Considering McQuail's gratifications: fun, social relationships, vigilance, and personal identity; It is proposed that networks are not indifferent to satisfying these needs. For this reason, the three most used networks in Ecuador were selected: Facebook, Instagram and TikTok to know the characteristics and needs they satisfy according to the public. Thus, the objective was raised to analyze the content of social networks in relation to the Theory of Uses and Gratifications in the students of the Technical University of Machala to understand usage and consumption trends that can be applied to strategies in the local context. For this analysis of social network content, a non-experimental and mixed field design methodology was used. It uses three research techniques: interviews, surveys and qualitative content analysis. The interviews were carried out with three professionals. The first is a psychologist, Ronald Pinta, to delve into the psychological bases of the theory and how it is reflected today in the use and consumption of social networks. On the other hand, the second goes to the researcher Fátima Martínez, who provided her knowledge on the subject having written similar articles and detailing how gratifications are presented in the digital age. The third to Alba Granda, a sociologist who provided a perspective from a different field of study with a focus on network interactions and their culture. On the other hand, the surveys were aimed at studies to find out: demographic data, uses and gratifications on social networks, and the creation and dissemination of their own content on the networks. Information was obtained on associated uses, formats, contents, differentiating elements. From this information, content analysis matrices were created to classify the content based on the audience, analyzing 3 accounts per social network. The results obtained are characteristics and attributions of the public to these networks that allow the creation of more effective and better targeted content. In this way, on Facebook it is ideal to create publications with humorous content, characterized by the text format. On Instagram, they highlight images with personal narratives sharing their identity. On TikTok, videos with creative trends, dances or fashion stand out. The content that they mostly consume and that they believe attracts more locally is humorous and this is followed by gratification with news or updated information. Information is also obtained from your use of networks. It is established that young people have migrated from networks. Despite having accounts on the aforementioned networks, most of them have abandoned Facebook, spending less than 1 hour on it. While most of the time it is used on TikTok. Above all, regarding its consumption, it is discovered that the element that young people consider differentiating for their generation is the short duration of the content, being more summarized or brief.