As marketers and PR professionals, an understanding of how people acquire information from the media is necessary for developing successful strategies. One popular academic theory is the Two Step Flow Theory (Katz & Lazarsfeld). It basically posits that in general, people are more influenced by personal contacts rather than news sources when they have to make a decision. It's a two-step flow because opinion leaders first receive the information from the mass media and they in turn pass on the news content along with their own interpretations. This theory can explain why some media campaigns fail...they simply aren't targeting the right publics, the opinion leaders. Just something to keep in mind as strategies are developed.Think about Twitter and alot of other social media. The early adopters are generally the ones who influence others to use. You didn't sign up for Facebook because you saw an ad..you did it because the influencers in your circle may have mentioned how and why they use it and then you subsequently adopted. Will this approach work for your product? Thinking about this may save alot of marketing dollars.
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Ah - the good ol' 2-step flow :) It is interesting to see what 'opinion leaders' have emerged on twitter and elsewhere. I was just thinking about that the other day and how social media have really emulated the social structures that were already in place.
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