Age and gender differences in photo tagging gratifications

Abstract

The immense popularity of Facebook use among people from varying demographic groups has attracted the attention of communication scholars. While much is known about the age and gender differences in Facebook usage patterns and the general gratifications underlying its use, minimal attention has been paid to examining the age and gender differences among adolescents and young adults. Using multiple cross-sectional studies with Indian adolescent and young-adult photo-taggers, this study investigated (a) the age and gender differences in the photo-tagging gratifications of adolescents (12-18 years), (b) how photo-tagging gratifications among adolescents change over historical time, (c) the effect of different interactions among age, gender and the effect of time on the sought photo-tagging gratifications of adolescents, and (d) the age and gender differences between adolescent and young-adult photo-taggers. Theoretical and practical implications for new media research and practice are presented.