Two step flow theory is a communication route in media between leaders and their audience. It highlights how those who are more influential on media platforms can easily voice their opinions to those that aren’t as influential or those that follow a crowd. This theory was published by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet in the 1948 book ‘The people’s choice.’ They conducted research in which they questioned a panel multiple times regarding a topic and gradually added factors, such as communication campaigns, to see how this would affect answers. However, this had a different effect then they thought, they discovered that these campaigns and advertisements weren’t making as big of a change in answers as influence from friends and family was. This communicates that individuals around us or those that we follow and have a liking to change our perspectives and opinions regularly. A way in explaining why individuals consume media through influencers is because these so called influencers collect their information and knowledge from mass media, this could be from articles, movies or even from the sources’ word of mouth. This then is exclaimed to a large audience base. An individuals presence and decision making can be determined by who they surround themselves with such as family and friends, most of the time if individuals spend more time around others, listening to different opinions these opinions will have more impact on decision making than mass media. Instead of following from media sources such as newspapers or instagram.
An example of the two step theory is magazines, companies expressing new trends and getting others to represent them or advertise them, this shows the influence mass media cooperations have on the public, and sticking to what’s trending in the world, individuals feel the need to comply to these trends in order to fit in. Another example of this theory is through marketing and advertising. Kim Kardashian is a very big public figure and is well known for her body and is idolised a lot for this body, so by her promoting a weight loss company, her audience would feel more enclosed to purchase this product. This is because her audience want to look like her, this is a successful way for a weight loss company to market their products to a big audience base through sponsorships.
In the 1970s the two step flow theory cane under some criticism due to the fact that the theory is too broad, it doesn’t narrow down on factors to do with why media is communicated successfully through influencers instead of from mass media. It should have been published with more steps than just two and this is still being argued as to what are the in between steps? Another piece of criticism that has been voiced is the fact that this theory is now out-dated. This is due to the fact that the internet wasn’t a thing when the theory was published, and broadcasting wasn’t as huge as it is now. This indicates that the theory should be revisited and maybe published again relating more to the twenty first century.
It is a great blog post, as you clearly stated how the two-step flow theory works with pictures and examples. I love the picture that you chose, it demonstrates the relationship among the mass media, opinion leaders, and individuals in a very simple way. Also, the two examples you chose are related to our daily lives, which makes it more obvious for the readers to learn about the two-step flow theory. One thing that might improve is that each paragraph is quite long, which makes it hard to read for a blog post. Maybe add some more pictures to the post.