It is also why we love the movies, because they help to lift us from negative thoughts that depress us, even if they are lifted for just for a few hours. It is used by all age groups and genders to pass important information. To our ancestors it most likely contained important information concerning food source locations, male territory battles, safe areas to sleep, and mating partner possibilities. Today, depending on our stage in life and gender, gossip fluctuates according to your cultural location and needs. Not only is gossip an information-gathering mechanism, it can also entail complicated and sophisticated manipulative behavior mechanisms.
Males primarily use gossip to forge alliances to determine ranking and hence resource allocations.
In our primate cousins, the more resources a male has, the better chance for attracting a higher-ranking female. An example of male gossip is the practice of derogating an opponent of higher rank in order to gain assistance from someone else to capture some of the controlling male's resources. The practice is akin to the peasants overthrowing the King. The high-ranking male has the advantage because he already holds resources that the other males covet. The higher-ranking male usually distributes some of his resources to these assistants for protection and thus blocks the entrance to the advancing male.