Implementation of Two-step Flow Theory in Modern Day

The two-step flow theory was introduced in the Era of the Scientific Perspective (1940-1950). The three theorist Lazarsfeld, Bernard and Hazel researched on the effects of media communication and found out that the impact of media is not as influential as they once believed and stated that personal communication on voting bases had a more substantial effect on the mass.

These theorists observed that the ideas that print and radio media delivered to the mass directly had a scarce effect. The importance of opinion leaders came to light when the theorists observed opinion leaders gathering information from the same media and interpreting it with their personal understanding and then delivering it to the masses. Hence, the influence of opinion leaders was understood. The effect that this flow of information had led to the establishment of the two-step flow theory.

When talking about appliance of this theory in the modern day one can safely assume that this theory is not completely void. Researchers suggest that in the internet age information is being passed in an extensive chain which consists of thousands of sources which then spread information to thousands of other sources or in simple words a global network of sources. These sources then forward their perception of knowledge to millions of people around the world. Two step flow is identified as the major limitation of this theory in modern day but the internet does not terminate the concept of this theory it merely enhances it and looks at it with a magnified view. Several examples of this can be seen throughout the Internet some of them are mentioned bellow:

·         Yahoo Answers

Yahoo Answers is one of the best examples that supports two-step flow theory. It is a platform which gives people an opportunity to ask questions and get answers on various topics from a variety of opinion leaders. People tend to trust sources that this platform provides. Hence the influence of opinion leaders is clearly seen.

·         Quora

Like Yahoo Answers, Quora also provides this opportunity. In Quora various opinion leaders get an opportunity to share their ideas and beliefs and provide knowledge according to their personal perception. People enjoy receiving knowledge from these pluralistic speakers. These speakers talk about a variety of topics namely economics, politics, social etc.   

·         Blogs

Blogs are another way opinion leaders use to convey their point of view. It establishes the flow of information from the writer to the readers. In this modern society blogs easily grabs the attention of the masses.

·         Advertisement

Advertisement producers can also be considered as opinion leaders as they influence the consumers to purchase their commodity.    

As most of the theories of mass media the theory of two-step flow will have little or no effect in the future. The creation of Internet has rendered this theory insufficient. Therefore, this theory will probably be replaced by more complex theories that will explain the complicated media of tomorrow but a part or a reference of this theory will still remain for theorists to research on.    

Answers.yahoo.com. (2017). About | Yahoo Answers. [online] Available at: https://answers.yahoo.com/info/about [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].

Quora.com. (2017). About Quora - Quora. [online] Available at: https://www.quora.com/about [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].

E. Dennis, E. (2008). [pdf] Available at: http://mj.unc.edu/sites/default/files/images/documents/ante/ante_two-step.pdf [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].

Communication Theory. (2012). Two Step Flow Theory. [online] Available at: http://communicationtheory.org/two-step-flow-theory-2/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].

Utwente.nl. (2012). Two Step Flow Theory. [online] Available at: https://www.utwente.nl/cw/theorieenoverzicht/Theory%20Clusters/Mass%20Media/Two_Step_Flow_Theory-1/ [Accessed 13 Feb. 2017].

Effects of Media on Active & Passive Audience

The viewers or listeners of an event are called audience but when media is concerned the word event translates to media hence, audience are the viewers or listeners of media. Mass media divides its viewers into two parts namely: active and passive. The viewers that do not question the content of media and readily accept it as the truth are considered passive audience. Active audience on the other hand have a different perception as they question the content that the media presents and believe according to their observation. The different interpretation of the audience is the factor that separates them.

The hypodermic needle theory sees viewers as passive audience. It states that through media any message can be injected in to people in order to create a certain response. This theory was stated in the early times of media where mass media such as print and radio were at their topmost level and television being the newly released source of information. This theory accurately described the effects of media at that time hence declaring the mass as passive. Another theory shares a similar concept which is known as Agenda Setting theory which states that media has large amount of influence in the thinking and interaction of people and can set any agenda it desires. But as time passed these theories could not keep up with the changes. Henceforth the idea of active audience came into life.   

Many theorists even in the past supported the idea that audiences are active rather than passive and that media is not as influential as they once believed. This idea is mostly true when new media is concerned but mass media also shares a comparable notion. The two-step flow theory stress that media by itself does not have a strong influence on masses. The theorist believed that people are more likely to be influenced by opinion leaders rather than media even if the opinion leader presents media itself. The opinion leaders maybe members of family, friends or role models etc. Uses and gratifications theory speaks against the hypodermic needle theory and does not label audiences as passive people who absorb the content that they are delivered. It gives the idea that people use media to get gratification and fulfil their desires. Which marks them active as they actively choose the content which they accept.

Most people neglect the audiences of mass media when talking about new media. They believe that with new media there is a new audience. New media does not believe that audience can be passive and assumes that all of its users are active. But in some case traditional media theories are applicable to new media such as in entertainment where audience is assumed to be passive. So generally, it can be said that the idea of new audience is taken from active audience from mass media. One of the main difference in new media is that it gives its audience a platform to interact and communicate while the only interaction mass media allows its audience is in choosing the channel. New media supports the Media Equation theory which states that masses treat media like people and interact with them as if they are actual people.

Therefore, audiences can be divided into three or two categories active, passive and new or just passive and active and new audience being a part of active audience. Mass media theories maybe replaced by new media theories completely but the relationship between these two media will still exist and in some cases they might even be valid.  

Careerride.com. (2016). Mass communication theory. [online] Available at: http://www.careerride.com/Mass-communication-theory.aspx [Accessed 30 Jan. 2017].

General, A. (2015). New Media Theory. [online] prezi.com. Available at: https://prezi.com/az2z5w2634du/new-media-theory/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2017].

The WritePass Journal. (2015). New Media Audiences and Technologies. [online] Available at: https://writepass.com/journal/2015/04/new-media-audiences-and-technologies/ [Accessed 30 Jan. 2017].

Williams, K. (2003). Understanding media theory. 1st ed. London: Arnold.            

The Era of Mass Society Theory

“Mass communication is concerned with transmitting information, thoughts and opinions, entertainments etc. at a time to a large number of heterogeneous audiences.” (Metha)

Hence mass communication is a process of exhibiting information to large audiences through mass media such as radio, television, newspaper, movies etc. The transformation of media theories throughout the nineteenth century has been laid out in four distinct eras which was facilitated in the understanding of mass communication throughout the last two centuries. (The Business Communication, 2015)

The Four Eras of Mass Communication Theory are:

•  The Era of Mass Society Theory
•  The Era of the Scientific Perspectives
•  The Era of Limited Effect Theory
• The Era of Cultural Theory

In the nineteen century, when the printing press was holding a large amount of power due to the print media’s creation spread wide among the population. The industrial revolution transformed many rural areas to urban areas and even forced a lot of people from rural areas to take part in the industrial revolution. Many theorists blamed the media for disturbing the peace of rural areas. Even though the theory of mass society has properly criticized the errors of that particular era, a new version of this theory was never stated. (Baran and Davis, 2011)

The idea of mass society theory is that the taste and value of bourgeois (rich people) is considerably more significant than proletariat (average people). The media injected the idea of working class to readers and viewers which created a disturbance in the social order. It made people believe that they belong to the lower class and that the capitalists are in control. This theory was derived from the critical theory which is described by Horkheimer and Adorno as “the bourgeois idealism” they argued that the development of capitalism will make the life of the bourgeois better and worsen the life of proletariat but they also stated that the growth of industry will bring new forms of knowledge to life. These theorists belonged to a school of social theory and philosophy called Frankfurt School. (Cowen, 2003)

In Marxism, a theory defined by Karl Marx society is divided into two parts the bourgeois and the proletariat. The bourgeois are capitalist wealthy people who owns corporates they are less in number but have the power to control mass media on the other hand proletariat are more in number but are considered working class and have a low social value in society. (AllAboutPhilosophy.org, 2016)

People among the bourgeois who owned factories and industries came to be known as capitalists. Capitalism is a system in which a country’s economic system is controlled by capitalists. Marx stated that under capitalism the rich will keep on getting richer and the poor will get more and more poorer. He suggested communism as the solution of the problem where corporates are publicly owned and workers are paid according to their ability.

Mass society theory recognized that the media is being controlled by the bourgeois and they have been corrupting the minds of average people and illustrating them to believe that they are lesser beings whose worth is merely nothing. Every step is a huge leap towards success and identifying this exploitation was the beginning of a new era as this open secret was spoken of and discussed among the proletariat, the average, the population.

References:

AllAboutPhilosophy.org. (2016). What is Marxism. [online] Available at: http://www.allaboutphilosophy.org/what-is-marxism-faq.htm [Accessed 23 Jan. 2017].

Baran, S. and Davis, D. (2011). Mass communication theory. 6th ed. Wadsworth Publishing.

Cowen, H. (2003). The Significance of the Frankfurt School and Critical Theory. [online] BRLSI. Available at: http://brlsi.org/events-proceedings/proceedings/18097 [Accessed 23 Jan. 2017].

The Business Communication. (2015). What is Mass Communication? [online] Available at: https://thebusinesscommunication.com/what-is-mass-communication/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2017].

  

Hypodermic Needle Theory: Implication of Media on Society

Hypodermic needle theory is also known as the Magic bullet theory it was originated in 1920s after seeing the effects of media broadcast during World War 1. The theory suggests that through media any message can be injected to the mass in order to create a certain response.

The interpretation of information may differ among people and each individual may have a unique set of psychology but the media presents data in such a systematic way which influences people from an individual to societies. For example, people tend to adopt behavior from media due to its psychological importance, personal interest or motivation which maybe the same for a large group of people. (Bryant and Thompson, 2002)

People subconsciously believe that mass media is the only source of trust through which accurate information come from. Media builds up trust by giving accurate information to its viewers repeatedly and by doing so people begin to have faith on the media. Once the media has control over the mass it starts publishing the information most likely people want to hear. This methodology functions in all times. Modern media uses psychological techniques to persuade people into believing its information. It gives you the information that wants you to believe. For example, if a group of people are in a conflict with another society, media will try to give each one of them as much information as they need to know about the other respective party which seemingly benefits both parties and is profitable for the media as well while in fact it worsens the condition between the two groups. Hypodermic needle theory will still be much effective where media exists.     

      

The development of technology has a great impact on media, as technology developed more sources of information were created which effected the Hypodermic needle theory as well. For instance, in the past the Hypodermic needle theory functioned more effectively due to limited resources like radios and newspapers which are not in fact the only assets available nowadays. Beside more resources people have even access to research materials in the form of articles, blogs, journals and apps. Whenever a person mistrusts an information he can easily use the research materials available to him in order to find its accuracy. Hence, public access to such resource have proven costly to the Magic bullet theory and the theory is not applicable enough to provide solid conclusions. Further development may even void this theory.

Magic bullet theory helped in the development of understanding communication through mass media but in the current era, this theory has a lot of limitations and does not keep up with the upcoming changes. A lot of other theories have been introduced since 1920s and Hypodermic needle theory has been successfully replaced by many other complex theories. It may be true that certain points of this theory may still be functional but with a set of assumptions. (Communication Studies, 2016)   

References:

Communication Studies. (2016). Hypodermic Needle Theory. [online] Available at: http://www.communicationstudies.com/communication-theories/hypodermic-needle-theory [Accessed 23 Dec. 2016].

Bryant, J. and Thompson, S. (2002). Fundamentals of media effects. 1st ed. Boston, Mass.: McGraw-Hill.