The two step flow theory is a type of communication model developed in the year 1948 by three sociologist, Paul Lazarsfeld, Bennard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet. The theory was then later expanded by Paul Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz in 1955 in their book Personal influence. The two step flow theory discuss the theory that mass media does not influence the public. Instead it implies that data reaches a large view of opinion leaders who are more engaged in the media and try to interpret and change the data and pass it on to others within their social network.
This theory has been shown throughout different generations even in today’s society. When we take a look at different mass media such as adverts, radio ,newspaper and reels on social media we can never truly understand the truth or understand the data given as there are different platforms giving us different information. For instance, when we look at newspapers, blogs or reels on social media there’s multiple outlets or influencers who tend to speak upon the same topic but in a different aspect. This is due to them changing the information given to attract audiences and to seem engaging and worth reading or watching.
This changes society as they are easily targeted and gullible to every outlet there is and may believe false rumours and unable to identify what is really happening. This can also lead to political and consumer decisions as society relies on influencer’s who have consume media deeply to tell them what they should be doing. This can affects ones choice in what they are wearing, who to vote for and who’s seen as “good and “bad” and then later pass it to friends and family who will end up doing the same. This can also lead misinterpretation and can cause many conflicts as they public has been told information that has been filtered and spun around to be eye catching. These influence can make many of the public unable to think proper opinions themselves as they are so used to getting data from people who aren’t from trusted outlets and instead gaining sources from people they like or seam ideal to them.
With different information being changed it can cause the public to easily trust every video, article they see and can later cause complication as the society will find out the Truth from people who release data directly from the source instead of going through the opinion leaders.
Theses images above are a perfect example of how society gains data from different type of categories such as makeup, skincare and clothing, rather than going to the website themselves to understand what they want or need. The audience is now being told by opinion leaders what they should be dressing like and what they should be buying for their skin instead of them choosing. This is common amongst the younger audience as they like to keep on trend but, are also easily influenced and do not realise that they are not forming a thought themselves to figure out what they need but instead swayed and moved to a certain act or thought.
This is a perfect example of the Two-Flow Step Theory as we can truly understand how much key information and data that has been changed to for the public to see. The sociologist’s that discovered this theory and went into deep research to prove that interpersonal connections and trusted peers can exert much stronger influence on the public’s opinion than the mass media outlets alone.
