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Two-step flow of communication

 
Marketing Dictionary: two-step flow of communication
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Theory stating that the nonpersonal marketing message is really passed on to an opinion leader who then passes it on to the individual consumer. Believers in this theory attempt to base their marketing strategy on identifying opinion leaders and communicating their marketing message to them. See also communication channels.

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Wikipedia: Two-step flow of communication
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The two-step flow model hypothesizes that ideas flow from mass media to opinion leaders, and from them to a wider population. It was first introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld et al. in 1944[1] and elaborated by Elihu Katz and Lazarsfeld in 1955[2] and subsequent publications.[3] Unlike the hypodermic needle model, which considers mass media effects to be direct, the two-step flow model stresses human agency.

According to Lazarsfeld and Katz, mass media information is channeled to the "masses" through opinion leadership. The people with most access to media, and having a more literate understanding of media content, explain and diffuse the content to others.

The two-step flow model laid the foundation for the study of the diffusion of innovations.

References

  1. ^ Paul Felix Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, Hazel Gaudet, The people's choice: how the voter makes up his mind in a presidential campaign, Columbia University Press, 1944, p. 151ff
  2. ^ Elihu Katz and Paul Felix Lazarsfeld, Personal Influence: the Part Played by People in the Flow of Mass Communications, 1955. ISBN 1412805074 (new edition), p. 309ff
  3. ^ Elihu Katz, "The Two-Step Flow of Communication: An Up-To-Date Report on a Hypothesis", The Public Opinion Quarterly 21:1 (Spring, 1957), pp. 61-78. at JSTOR

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