A heuristic model aims to organize and synthesize the substantial body of work examining the social influences that shape media selection, experiences, and effects. The Social Influences and Media Use (SIMU) model describes three broad social forces (users’ internal social needs, their social environment, and the social affordances of media) and their recursive association with media use. This article (a) brings together diverse subdisciplines interested in the social factors and functions of media use, (b) discusses the micro–macro nature of social phenomena and its potential role in future inquires, and (c) illustrates how the model might foster new developments by applying it in a specific area of study. The model may help us identify cohesive patterns (and points of divergence or uniqueness) among existing findings as well as inform future work examining these relationships across a variety of social contexts and media channels.

中文翻译：

---

媒体使用的社会因素和功能

启发式模型旨在组织和综合研究塑造媒体选择、体验和效果的社会影响的大量工作。社会影响和媒体使用 (SIMU) 模型描述了三种广泛的社会力量（用户的内部社会需求、他们的社会环境和媒体的社会可供性）及其与媒体使用的递归关联。本文 (a) 汇集了对媒体使用的社会因素和功能感兴趣的不同子学科，(b) 讨论了社会现象的微观-宏观性质及其在未来研究中的潜在作用，以及 (c) 说明了该模型如何促进通过将其应用于特定研究领域的新发展。