Two Step Flow Theory

THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION (COM 102) GROUP 6 ASSIGNMENT
TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY

The two-step flow theory is an audience theory. In this essay, we will talk about the history of
two-step flow theory, its concept, some examples and its criticisms.
HISTORY OF TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY
The two-step flow theory was first propounded in 1944 by an American social researcher,
Paul Lazersfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet in a study in the book titled The
People’s Choice: How the Voter Makes Up His Mind in a Presidential Campaign. It was
further elaborated on by Elihu Katz and Paul Lazersfeld in 1955.
The study carried out was primarily on focused on how the public made decisions during the
Presidential election campaigns. The researchers expected that the media and media messages
would be responsible for influencing people’s choices during the Presidential election.
However, the results showed that personal contacts (opinion leaders) influenced the voting
behavior of the masses and their electoral awareness more than mass media.
DEFINITION AND CONCEPT
The notion of two-step flow of communication explains that the flow of information from the
mass media to the public/viewers involves two steps. The first is from the media to opinion
leaders, and the second is from the opinion leaders to the public. It insinuates that most
people form their opinions through the influence of opinion leaders more than the influence
of mass media.
Opinion leaders are those influential and trustworthy individuals in society that actively pay
close attention to the media and pass their interpretation to the public. They absorb the
message from the mass media, recast or reinterpret the message, and then pass it along to the
audience rather than the audience directly receiving the information as is the case in the
Hypodermic Needle theory. Examples of opinion leaders include social media influencers,
religious leaders, political leaders, celebrities, and bloggers. Although, this may vary because
of people’s different views.
PRACTICAL EXAMPLES
Two good examples of the two-step flow theory are Al Gore and Kony 2012.
The Al Gore Climate Project was a project made by Al Gore. It was made with the goal of
spreading awareness of the effects of climate change. For his message to reach a large
audience, he used digital opinion leaders to get his message across. The use of other opinion
leaders allowed him to avoid the mass media and communicate with his audience directly.
The Kony 2012 campaign is another great example of the two-step flow theory. The
campaign aimed at shedding light on Joseph Kony, a Central African warlord that recruited
children as soldiers. The organization uploaded a video on YouTube with the hope of
attaining a million views in a year’s time. However, the video ended up gaining over 120
million views within the first five days. This was due to influential leaders like Rihanna and
Bill Gates tweeting about it.
CONTEMPORARY EXAMPLE
Some researchers presented a paper at the 2011 World Wide Web conference which sited the
social networking site, Twitter, as a contemporary example of the two-step flow theory. After
analysing information flow on the site, the researchers concluded that information and news
finds its way to people through “elite” users and influential people (opinion leaders). The
statistics was that almost half of the information that came from the media first passed
through the opinion leaders before reaching the masses.
ADVANTAGES OF TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY
1. The audience would trust the information more: The audience can sometimes be
doubtful about what the media dishes out to them, but if that information is coming
from a person that the audience trusts or idolizes, they are more likely to believe it.
2. Specific target: Information is passed from the media to opinion leaders instead of
directly to the audience, so this way, it is easier for the media to package the
information in a particular way to appeal to certain people. The media could also
befriend the opinion leaders and directly influence their opinion on certain matters,
but they can’t do the same for an anonymous audience.
3. Effectively challenges simplistic notions of direct effects: The theory challenges
direct effect theories (like the Hypodermic Needle theory) that state the audience is
passive and is easily influenced by the media.
CRITICISMS OF TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY

The two-step flow theory although a very popular media theory has received a growing
number of criticisms such as the following.
1. The two-step theory is limited: The two-step theory only focuses on the transmission
of information from the mass media to opinion leaders and then to the public. It
doesn’t take into consideration the passage if information from one individual to
another.
2. If this theory is true, then people are not seeking factual information but rather people
they trust: Members of the public have built their trust on opinion leaders so much
that they do not care whether or not the information they are receiving is based on
fact, but receive it mainly because they trust them.
3. Study shows that information is spread to a far greater audience directly through mass
media than through opinion leaders, by Westley (1971): Many members of the public
receive their information directly from mass media such as print or broadcast media
rather than waiting to receive it from opinion leaders.
4. The theory is an oversimplification of information dissemination: Researchers argue
that the two-step flow theory oversimplifies the flow of information from mass media
to the public because dissemination of information is more than two steps.
5. It ignores the evidence of direct flow: Several studies indicate that major news stories
are spread directly by the mass media to the public.
6. It ignores the existence of a horizontal flow: The theory does not consider that
opinion leaders can get information from other sources than the media.
GROUP 6 MEMBERS & CONTRIBUTIONS
STANLEY Lois: History and Compilation of document
NKEREUWEM Princess: Definition & Concept
ANTIGHA Edidiong: Practical Examples
OYEDELE Mariam: Contemporary Example & Division of Work
EDAFIOGHOR Zino: Advantages
ODU Chiagoziem: Criticisms & Presentation
ANURUKEM Victor: Criticisms
REFERNCES
Weimann, G. (2015). Two-Step Flow of Communication - an overview | ScienceDirect
Topics. Sciencedirect.com. Retrieved from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/two-step-flow-of-
communication
Hussain, D. (2020). Criticism of Two Step Flow of Communication I Two Step Flow Model
by Dr Shahid Hussain (Part 2/2). Youtube. Retrieved 31 May 2022, from
https://youtu.be/eLWH1fuHkUg
Postelnicu, M. (2016). Two-step flow model of communication. In Encyclopædia Britannica.

Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/topic/two-step-flow-model-of-
communication
Weimann, G. (1982). On the Importance of Marginality: One More Step into the Two-Step
Flow of Communication. American Sociological Review, 47(6), 764. Retrieved from
https://doi.org/10.2307/2095212

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THEORIES OF COMMUNICATION (COM 102) GROUP 6 ASSIGNMENT

TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY

CRITICISMS OF TWO-STEP FLOW THEORY

Postelnicu, M. (2016). Two-step flow model of communication. In Encyclopædia Britannica.

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