Through qualitative thematic analysis of the open-ended data,
seven sought gratifications were identified: safety, control, easiness,
accessibility, mobility, connectivity, and versatility. It must
be noted that these categories are not always mutually exclusive.
For example, the accessibility of MSM online is colored by the ease
of using social networking, and this accessibility increases safety
for some MSM. Nonetheless, while there may be some overlap
between the categories, they are each distinctive in some manner
and lumping them together would be a disservice. Safety refers
to the cultivation of a safe space or a somewhat protected online
environment. Control speaks to the agency of the media user,
and accessibility to the bringing MSM together in an alternate
queer territory that rivals existing physical queer spaces, not
available to all. Mobility refers to the geographic flexibility of both
phone-based social networking applications as well as search functions
on these and web-based applications, and connectivity
encompasses camaraderie and community attachment. Finally,
versatility denotes the eclectic and wide-ranging set of roles that
MSM-specific social networking may play for individual users.