THE TWO STEP FLOW AND MULTI STEP FLOW THEORY.

The Two step flow theory was born out of the weaknesses of the Hypodermic needle theory. For that reason we are taking a brief look at the general concept of the Hypodermic needle theory.

The hypodermic needle theory also known as the magic bullet theory played a vital role during the Second World War in both Germany and the United States of America which influenced the minds of the people. Media scholars found the first theory on the media behavior and media effects in the mid-1930s. With the theory, the message is fired directly into the audience head by the media (magic gun) without their notice or knowledge causing instant reaction from the audience minds without hesitation, hence the name “Magic Bullet Theory”. The behavior of the audience become passive and dormant since they cannot resist the media message, hence the name “hypodermic needle theory”. The media had a powerful influence on the mass.

ss or audience’s behavior without any challenge and opposition from the audience hence manipulating them. An example is the serial killer Jeffery Dahmer, a professional murderer. He watches movies concerning crime before every crime to make him excited.

The two-step flow theory came about in the mid twentieth century that was between 1940 and 1960 at a time where the Second World War had ended and the cold war between communism and capitalism had begun. The two-step flow of communication hypothesis was first introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson and Hazel Gaudet in the people’s choice. A 1994 study focused on the process of decision-making during a presidential election campaign. They expected to find empirical support for the direct influence of media messages on voting intentions. They were surprised to discover, however that informal, personal contacts were mentioned far more frequently than exposure to radio or newspaper as a source of influence on voting behaviors. Paul Felix Lazarsfeld, who was not a theorist but had specialized in media effects and preferred inductive approach to theory construction, wanted to expand the already known hypodermic needle theory. He did this with Elihu Katz. They believed that the mainstream media was being put to the use of influencing the public opinion regarding general opinion of their leaders as well as politics.

Lazarsfeld believed theory must be strongly grounded in empirical facts. Like we put earlier, he preferred a highly inductive approach to theory construction that is; research should begin with empirical observation, not only with armchair speculation. This is to say that after facts are gathered, they should be sifted and the most important pieces of information should be selected. This information is used to construct empirical generalizations -assertions about the relationships between variables. Then, researchers can gather more data to see if these generalizations are valid.

Core assumptions of the theory

In this theory, the audiences are passive and dormant in the sense that the opinion leaders have some degree of influence on the audience and mold the way they select media content and act on it. This happens when the information to be given to the audience gets to the opinion leader, the message the opinion leader thinks should get to the audience is what he delivers and even with that there is distortion of information from the opinion leader. Thus, these opinion leaders who are frequent and heavy or higher end users of the media act as gate-keepers – screening information and only passing on items that would help others share their views. Lazarsfeld chose the term opinion leader to refer to these individuals. We can describe them as people who are held in very high esteem by their followers. They can be called in public relation terms as “thought leaders”. They normally engage in face –to- face interaction with the audiences or the mass. He labeled the mass, wider population or those who turned to opinion leaders for advice as opinion followers.

The theory calls for social influence and this is when the opinions, thoughts and behaviors of persons are affected by others. Therefore, in regards to the theory, when the opinion leaders influence the decisions and thoughts of opinion followers, we say a social influence has occurred. Just as in disseminating information in the communication channel, which starts from a sender to a receiver through a channel, the two step flow can be likened to that by seeing the mass media as a sender who sends its information through a channel known as opinion leaders to the receivers who are known to be opinion followers. We also know that any mode or medium of channeling information can be described as a “gate-keeper”. And as a gate-keeper, it is in control of messages or information. For that reason, he is capable of distorting messages be it over-rating the message, under-rating message, adding, or subtracting something from the message. This is the exact action of the opinion leaders in the two step flow theory.

A vivid example to describe the concept of The Two Step Flow theory is the time of presidential and parliamentary elections in Ghana. In certain constituencies, even the president does not gain enough votes like as a parliamentary candidate. This is because, the people know and trust the representatives all for the fact that, they live with them and they trust and hold them accountable for their duties. This makes the parliamentary candidates the opinion leaders in this theory.

Criticism

Consequent studies disagreed with the original concept of the two-step flow theory. Findings from Deutschman and Danielson assert, “We would urge that the Katz- Lazarsfeld two-step flow hypothesis, as a description of the initial information process, be applied to mass communication with caution”. With concrete evidence, they asserted that information flows directly to the people on the whole without passing through opinion leaders.

Everette Rogers “Diffusion of innovations theory” cited a study in which two thirds of respondents accredited their awareness to the mass media rather than face-to-face communication.

However, the theory is enough description to understand the media’s influence on belief and behavior. Findings also made it clear the decisive role of opinion leaders in balance theory which suggests that people are motivated to keep consistency among their current beliefs and opinions.

It furthermore stated that anyone exposed to new observations that are not in consistency with his current beliefs, he or she is thrown into imbalance and that is where the opinion leader comes in to provide advice and cognition.

Strength of two-step flow theory

1.      Focuses attention on the environment in which effects can and can’t occur. By this we mean media messages are based on the environments and what problems they face. It is a socially based form of living with which the theory operated.

2.      Stresses importance of opinion leaders in formation of public opinion. The theory sought to basically base around the opinion leaders and that they are the major persons that determined what the entire population is aware of, making them important personalities in the time.

3.      Is based on inductive rather than deductive reasoning. Paul Felix Lazarsfeld said that theory formation should be based on inductive approach. Inductive approach is gathering specific information to reach a general conclusion. By basing this on his theory, media messages were sifted through before delivered to the general public and this was done by the opinion leaders after they got their messages from the mass media.

4.      Effectively challenges simplistic notions of direct effects.  This is actually true according to his theory because this was the idea of the Hypodermic Theory which stated that the media had direct effect on the mass media which he did not agree with hence his own theory the Two Step Flow.

Weaknesses of two-step flow theory

1.      Is limited to its time (1940s) and media environment (no television). The theory is of no use to the present world.

2.      Used reported behavior (voting) as only test of media effects. The theory didn’t use other approaches to test validity except for the voting era within the presidential election in 1944.

3.      Later research demonstrates a multistep flow of influence.

Multi-step flow theory/diffusion innovation theory

The Two Step Flow Theory gave way to the Multi Step Flow Theory. It was observed that the influence from the media can be multi directional and it is not necessarily downwards but can be upwards or even backwards to the media as well. The Two Step Flow led to the change in name basically because of the opinion leaders who are more than just a second hand. This caused the description “Multi Directional” because the multistep had to do with more than one opinion leader, they could be two, three, four, five or even six people. Many a time, the information reaching the audience is altogether different from the original piece of information. That is, opinion leaders who pass the information add their own interpretation to it giving it a new meaning and making the information distorted.

The audiences here are active because they send feedback to the media suggesting, appreciating or criticizing things or events. There is peer to peer discussion as well, where the audiences with similar opinion share insights with each other.

The multi-step flow is also called diffusion of innovations theory which gives it a new dimension and understanding. This predicts that media and interpersonal contacts provide information and influence opinion and judgment. Its focus is on the media letting out information and in a point where the audience may be thrown in imbalance because the message or information is not in consistency with their culture or beliefs. The role of the opinion leaders come to play whereby they engage in face-to-face explanation with the people either to advise them or help them get cognition.

In 1995, Everett Rogers studying how innovation occurs, argued that innovation consist of four stages which are invention, diffusion (communication through social system), time and consequences. Diffusion is the process by which an innovation is communicated through certain channels over a period of time among the members of a social system. An innovation is an idea, product or practice that is perceived to be new by an individual. Communication is the process in which participants create and share information with one another to reach a mutual understanding.

Strength of multi-step flow theory

1.      Information travels fast and gets to everyone in the society.

2.      Everyone participants actively in the communication process.

Weaknesses of multi-step flow theory

1.      Misinterpretation and distortion of information or messages. Since messages gets to opinion leaders first, they add, subtract and change the meaning of the intended message from the media and send messages they deem important for consumption by the opinion followers.

Conclusion

It important to note that both two-step flow and multi-step flow theories clearly discredit the direct influence of mass media because of the extraneous influence, interpersonal channels and social relations of audience which are often complex, multi directional and multi- dimensional.

References

Davis D.K and Baron and S.J (eds) Mass Communication and Everyday life: A perspective on theory and effects.

Introduction to Mass Communication by Stanley Baron

Theories of Mass Communication by Stanley Baron and Dennis Davies