Written words: A descriptive study on the uses and gratifications of wattpad writers

Abstract

This descriptive study is on the uses and gratifications of Filipino romance writers for writing in Wattpad, a free online writing community. The study is best explained by the Uses and Gratifications Theory of Blumler and Katz which states that specific forms of media content are sought out by the audience members based upon their individual need satisfactions. An online survey of 37 Filipino Wattpad romance writers shows the main use for writing in Wattpad is diversion or escape from the daily stress. The strongest gratification satisfied by Wattpad is affective or expression of emotion, pleasure, and aesthetic experiences. The result indicates that gender is a major influential factor in their uses and gratifications gained from writing in Wattpad. Wattpad empowers people who love writing not only because it is a free writing community but more so because it gives writers a sense of freedom from stress and freedom to express themselves.