Tweet this: A uses and gratifications perspective on how active Twitter use gratifies a need to connect with others

Twitter is an Internet social-network and micro-blogging platform with both mass and interpersonal communication features for sharing 140-character messages, called tweets, with other people, called followers. Hierarchical OLS regression of survey results from 317 Twitter users found that the more months a person is active on Twitter and the more hours per week the person spends on Twitter, the more the person gratifies a need for an informal sense of camaraderie, called connection, with other users. Controlling for demographic variables does not diminish this positive relationship. Additionally, frequency of tweeting and number of @replies, public messages between Twitter users, mediate the relationship between active Twitter use and gratifying a need for connection. Results are discussed in light of uses and gratifications theory. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.