Two Step Flow Theory comes from Lazarsfeld’s book ‘People’s Choice’. In 1940, Lazarsfeld and others conducted an investigation on the propaganda station in the presidential election in order to measure the influence of mass communication on the attitude of voters which called “Ili Survey” in history.
In this study, they found that mass communication has no enough power to influence people’s attitudes, and there are many other factors that can influence voters’ voting intentions. According to this survey, Lazarsfeld presented the viewpoint of ‘Two Step Flow Theory’.
Two Step Flow Theory shows that the Mass Media gives different kinds of information to opinion leader who is an active media user who interprets the meaning of media messages or content for lower-end media users. And then, information will flow to the opinion followers through opinion leader.
In Elihu Katz’s article, he presented three factors which can make the opinion leader more convincing.
- expression of values
- professional competence
- nature of their social network
(Two Step Flow Theory’s model on the right )
From my perspective, though Two Step Flow Theory made a big difference for the Mass Media, there are some drawbacks in modern life now. The most typical example in my mind is the anchors or bloggers who are working online for selling goods. In China nowadays, many brands cultivate their own opinion leaders which are the anchors in order to get more profit through the broadcast. These anchors use exaggerated language and different broadcast forms to attract the audience to stay in the room and buy their goods. It is a really popular way of shopping online in China now. I found it can be a wrong trend for the public as they are easily be influenced by the anchors to buy some maybe useless things which is a really waste of money and time.
On the other hand, I think the Two Step Flow Theory is incomplete. The flow of information between Mass Media and individuals is not only only through the opinion leader to reach the dissemination of information. Individuals can skip opinion leaders and accept information from Mass Media directly. Plus, information can also be disseminated between individuals. Therefore, I think that the communication in Mass Media depends on a complex interpersonal relationship which I found called Multi-Level Model (which also called N-Level )from an American scholar online. I think the N-level is more suitable for the Mass Media and the whole Internet.
As a Chinese, I have experienced blindly buying products recommended by influencers on social media. The unfortunate reality is that many products similar to the “Huaxizi incident”, such as eyebrow pencils priced at RMB, actually cost only a few RMB to produce, and companies seem to prefer to invest in marketing through individuals like Li Jiaqi rather than developing better products. This indirectly reflects the influence of Internet celebrities on the public. I think it is crucial to practice rational consumption and avoid blindly believing exaggerated propaganda. Instead, we should form our own opinions. Actively sharing product experiences can help others make informed choices and buy better quality products.