TWO STEP FLOW
Opinion Leader – Media – Public
Historically, the filtering of Information happened through people, especially in print and visual media. Paul Lazarsfeld explains this phenomenon as a two-step flow:
STEP 1) Opinion leaders influence the content the media broadcasts, and
STEP 2) The public forms an opinion based on that influence.
The general public looks to the opinion leaders for influence, and they become "opinion followers". So, theoretically, in this situation ideas, or waves of information, flow from opinion leaders to mass media, and from mass media to the general public who base their opinions on the information available.
The current digital atmosphere, however, has provided an abundance of information. The tsunami information, though, has drowned out the larger influence of opinion leaders, and alternate ways to filter information have been created. There are now INORGANIC filters everywhere -- on news sites, in web search engines, on blogger sites, social media sites and consumer goods sites to name a few.
Read on to find out more about MASS MEDIA FILTERS and SOCIAL NETWORKING FILTERS.
STEP 1) Opinion leaders influence the content the media broadcasts, and
STEP 2) The public forms an opinion based on that influence.
The general public looks to the opinion leaders for influence, and they become "opinion followers". So, theoretically, in this situation ideas, or waves of information, flow from opinion leaders to mass media, and from mass media to the general public who base their opinions on the information available.
The current digital atmosphere, however, has provided an abundance of information. The tsunami information, though, has drowned out the larger influence of opinion leaders, and alternate ways to filter information have been created. There are now INORGANIC filters everywhere -- on news sites, in web search engines, on blogger sites, social media sites and consumer goods sites to name a few.
Read on to find out more about MASS MEDIA FILTERS and SOCIAL NETWORKING FILTERS.