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AGENDA SETTING THEORY


the creation of what the public thinks is important History and Orientation Agenda setting describes a very powerful influence of the media the ability to tell us what issues are important. As far back as 1922, the newspaper columnist Walter Lippman was concerned that the media had the power to present images to the public. McCombs and Shaw investigated presidential campaigns in 1968, 1972 and 1976. In the research done in 1968 they focused on two elements: awareness and information. Investigating the agenda-setting function of the mass media, they attempted to assess the relationship between what voters in one community said were important issues and the actual content of the media messages used during the campaign. McCombs and Shaw concluded that the mass media exerted a significant influence on what voters considered to be the major issues of the campaign. Core Assumptions and Statements Core: Agenda-setting is the creation of public awareness and concern of salient issues by the news media. Two basis assumptions underlie most research on agenda-setting: (1) the press and the media do not reflect reality; they filter and shape it; (2) media concentration on a few issues and subjects leads the public to perceive those issues as more important than other issues. One of the most critical aspects in the concept of an agenda-setting role of mass communication is the time frame for this phenomenon. In addition, different media have different agenda-setting potential. Agenda-setting theory seems quite appropriate to help us understand the pervasive role of the media (for example on political communication systems). Statement: Bernard Cohen (1963) stated: The press may not be successful much of the time in telling people what to think, but it is stunningly successful in telling its readers what to think about. Conceptual Model

Agenda-setting Source: McQuail & Windahl (1993) Favorite Methods

Content-analysis of media, interviews of audiences. Scope and Application Just as McCombs and Shaw expanded their focus, other researchers have extended investigations of agenda setting to issues including history, advertising, foreign, and medical news. Example McCombs and Shaw focused on the two elements: awareness and information. Investigating the agenda-setting function of the mass media in the 1968 presidential campaign, they attempted to assess the relationship between what voters in one community said were important issues and the actual content of media messages used during the campaign. McCombs and Shaw concluded that the mass media exerted a significant influence on what voters considered to be the major issues of the campaign.

References Key publications Kleinnijenhuis, J. & Rietberg, E.M. (1995). Parties, media, the public and the economy: Patterns of societal agenda-setting. European journal of political research: official journal of the European Consortium for Political Research, 28(1),95-118 McCombs, M.E. & Shaw, D. (1972). The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. POQ, 36; 176-187. cation in Political Campaigns: Information, Gratification and Persuasion. In: Kline, F. & Tichenor, Ph.J. (Eds.) Current Perspectives in Mass Communication Research. Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage. McCombs, M.E. (1982). The Agenda-Setting Approach. In: Nimmo, D. & Sanders, K. (Eds.) Handbook of Political Communication. Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage. McCombs, M.E., & Shaw, D.L. (1972). The Agenda-Setting Function of Mass Media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36 (Summer), 176-187. McCombs, M.E., & Weaver, D. (1973). Voters Need for Orientation and Use of Mass Communication. Presented at the annual conference of the International Communication Association. Montreal, Canada. McCombs, M.E., & Weaver, D. (1985). Toward a Merger of Gratifications and Agenda-Setting Research. In: Rosengren, K.E., Wenner, L.A. & Palmgreen, P. (Eds.) Media Gratifications Research: Current Perspectives. Beverly Hills, CA.: Sage. McCombs, M.E., & Shaw, D.L., & Weaver, D.L. (1997). Communication and Democracy: Exploring the Intellectual Frontiers in Agenda-Setting Theory. Mahwah, N.J. Lawrence Erlbaum. Rogers, E.M., & Dearing, J.W. (1988). Agenda-setting research: Where has it been? Where is it going? In: Anderson, J.A. (Ed.). Communication yearbook 11 (555-594). Newbury Park, CA: Sage. Rogers, E.M., Hart, W. B., & Dearing, J.W. (1997). A paradigmatic history of agenda-setting research. In Iyengar, S. & Reeves, R. (Eds.) Do the media govern? Politicians, voters, and reporters in America (225-236). Thousand Oak, CA: Sage. Shaw, D. L. & McCombs, M. (1977). The Emergence of American Political Issues: The Agenda-Setting Function of the Press. St. Paul: West. See also: Priming , Framing , Hypodermic Needle Theory See also Mass Media & Public Relations, Advertising, Marketing and Consumer Behavior .

Agenda Setting Theory


Overview Agenda setting theory emerges from communications studies and focuses on mass media influence on setting political agenda, as articulated in the seminal article by McCombs and Shaw (1972), which through content analysis of a local election documented a high correlation between media agenda and the public agenda - a correlation corroborated in numerous studies since. Their 1972 article coined the phrase "agenda-setting." Subsequent agenda setting theorists have followed their lead in contending that the media agenda influences the political agenda more than vice versa.

Key Concepts and Terms

Agenda setting Agenda setting is giving priorities to alternative policy issues. Whereas early communications studies had shown a mixed picture about the ability of media to influence opinions on a given issue, Cohen (1963) and others showed that the media had much greater capacity to influence which issues were perceived as important. That is, the media agenda (policy rankings by importance in the media) influences both the public agenda (rankings in opinion surveys) and the policy agenda (rankings in legislative bodies). Salience transfer refers to the capacity of the media (or other actors) to influence the relative importance individuals attach to policy issues. A notable study proving the existence of salience transfer was that by Iyengar, Peters, & Kinder (1982), where experimental groups gave baseline priorities, then were exposed to different news broadcasts with different policy emphases over four dayst, then rated priorities again. The authors found subjects' issue rankings realigned to match the media agenda. Gatekeeping refers to how media content is controlled. Gatekeeping determines the content of salience transfer. Framing. The importance and interpretation people attach to potential items on the public agenda are strongly influenced by how the media present news stories (Chyi & McCombs, 2004). Entman (2004), for instance, attributes differential foreign policy perceptions to how the media cheered American

victories in Grenada and Panama but took scant note of success of far more difficult missions in Haiti and Kosovo. Another example cited by Entman is the media labeling an incident in which a U.S.S.R. aircraft shot down a civilian aircraft as an "attack," while labeling as a "tragedy" a similar incident in which an American aircraft shot down a civilian Iran Air airplane. Earlier work by Entman (2001) focused on framing examples related to racial issues in the U. S. Priming. Where framing centers on political loading of the presentation of news, consciously or not, priming has to do with drawing attention to certain issues even in a neutral manner. For instance, priming survey respondents with information about street crime may affect the views expressed on crime policy as compared to the same survey administered without priming. Determinants of agenda-setting effects. o Media exposure: Wanta & Ghanem (2006) found exposure was a stronger determinant than media credibility or media reliance, which were unrelated, in a study of Hispanic cable news. Earlier, Wanta and Miller (1996) had found exposure to be more important than media credibility in relation to presidential state of the union addresses. The same study found exposure led to thinking issues were important. Obtrusiveness refers to the extent that the public has experience with the policy issue. The nor unobtrusive the issue, the more the individual may rely on media exposure for orientation. Zucker (1978) found that salience transfer was greatest for unobtrusive issues. o Need for orientation. Weaver (1977) and others found that some individuals have greater need for policy orientation and thus are more affected by salience transfer. Need for orientation, in turn, is a function of individual interest in the policy topic combined with issue undertainty...

Assumptions

Content analysis is frequently assumed to adequately reflect agenda rankings, based on frequency of word/phrase citations, newspaper column inches, etc.

Illustrative Hypotheses Hypotheses below are illustrative and not all authors associated with this theory would subscribe to all hypotheses listed.

Agenda priorities of a legislative body will be more influenced by media priorities than candidate priorities. Agenda priorities of a legislative body will be more influenced by media priorities than public opinion priorities. Media priorities will tend to lead rather than follow public opinion priorities. Public priorities will correlate with media exposure. The interaction of policy interest and policy uncertainty correlates with the effectiveness of salience transfer. The more unobtrusive the issue, the more the effect of salience transfer.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is agenda setting theory related to the garbage can (multiple streams) theory of public administration? John Kingdon, a developer of the multiple streams model, viewed the mass media as one of the multiple streams feeding in to agency policymakers as they set their agendas. He explicitly incorporated elements of agenda setting theory and noted that media influence was correlated with public attention to issues. Multiple stream theory, however, gives much more attention to multiple determinants of policy agenda, including factors such as cost, interest group power, and the power of political parties and actors.

How is agenda setting theory related to frame analysis/framining theory? Framing is a central construct in agenda setting theory, and scholars who emphasize agenda setting not infrequently cite Erving Goffman (1974), the father of frame analysis. Goffman defined frames as cognitive structures which unconsciously lead the individual to what is to be noticed and which define that situation for the individual. For instance, if the individual carries a "stop light frame," the important

elements to be noticed are a line of cars and a red light; other attributes such as colors of the car, race of the drivers, etc., are not definitions of the "stop light frame" and will be less noticed and less recalled by the individual. A variety of theoretical perspectives, including agenda setting theory and later versions of framing theory, tended to move away from the unconscious nature of frames in Goffman and instead emphasize how frames can be manufactured, as by the media in agenda setting theory.

Bibliography

Chyi, Hsiang Iris & McCombs, Maxwell (2004). Media salience and the process of framing: coverage of the Columbine school shootings. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly 81(1): 22-35. Cohen, Bernard C. (1963). The press and foreign policy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press. Craft, Stephanie & Wanta, Wayne (2005). U. S. public concerns in the aftermath of 9-11: A test of second-level agenda-setting. International Journal of Public Opinion Research 16(4): 456-462. Entman, Robert M. (2001). The black image in the white mind: Media and race in America. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Entman, Robert M. (2006). Framing public life: Perspectives on media and our understanding of the social world.Political Communication 23(1): 121-122. Entman, Robert M. (2004). Projections of power: Framing news, public opinion, and U. S. foreign policy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Goffman, Erving (1974). Frame Analysis: An Essay on the Organization of Experience.NY: Harper & Row. Iyengar, Shanto, Peters, Mark, & Kinder, Donald (1982). Experimental demonstrations of the not-so-minimal consequences of television news programs. American Political Science Review 76(4): 848-858. Kingdon, John W. (2003). Agendas, alternatives and public policies. Second ed. NY: Addison-Wesley. McCombs, Maxwell E. (2004). Setting the agenda: The mass media and public opinion. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press. McCombs' retrospective on the emergence of agenda setting theory.

McCombs, Maxwell E. (2005). A look at agenda-setting: Past, present and future. Journalism Studies 6: 543-557. McCombs, Maxwell E. & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly 36(2):176-187. Wanta, Wayne (1997). The public and the national agenda: How people learn about important issues.Mahwah,. NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wanta, Wayne & Ghanem, Salma I. (2006). Effects of agenda setting. Pp. 37-52 in Preiss, R., Gayle, B, M., Burrell, N., Allen, M. & Bryant, J., eds. Mass media theories and processes: Advances through meta-analysis. Mahwah, N. J.: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wanta, Wayne & Miller, Randy (1996). Sources of the public agenda: The president-press-public relationship.International Journal of Public Opinion Research. 8(4): 390-402. Weaver, D. H. (1977). Political issues and voter need for orientation. Pp. 107119 in Shaw, D. L. & McCombs, M. E., eds., The emergence of American political issues: The agenda setting function of the press. St. Paul, MN: West Publishers. Zucker, H.G. (1978). The variable nature of news media influence. Pp. 15472 in Ruben, B., ed.,Communication Yearbook 2. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Books.

Agenda setting theory


in COMMU NI CATI ON THEORY

Agenda setting theory (Maxwell McCombs and Donald L. Shaw)

Media influence affects the order of presentation in news reports about news events, issues in the public mind. More importance to a news-more importance attributed by audience. Media Priorities It says what people should think about and how people should think about. These are the levels of agenda setting theory: First Level: Mostly studied by researchers, media uses objects or issues to influence the people what people should think about. Second level: Media focuses on the characters of issues how people should think about. Agenda setting theory used in political ad, campaigns, business news, PR (public relation) etc. The main concept associated with the agenda setting theory is gate keeping. Gate keeping controls over the selection of content discussed in the media; Public cares mostly about the product of a media gate keeping. It is especially editors media itself is a gatekeeper. News media decides what events to admit through media gates on ground of newsworthiness.

For e.g.: News Comes from various sources, editors choose what should appear and what should not thats why they are called as gatekeepers. Priming Activity of the media in proposing the values and standards by which objects of the media attention can be judged. Medias content will provide a lot of time and space to certain issues, making it more vivid. To say in simple words, Media is giving utmost importance to a news so that it gives people the impression that is the most important information. This is done everyday the particular news is carried as a heading or covered everyday for months. Headlines, Special news features, discussions, expert opinions are used. Media primes a news by repeating the news and giving it more importance E.g. Nuclear deal. Framing Framing is a process of selective control Two Meanings 1. Way in which news content is typically shaped and contextualized within same frame of reference. 2. Audience adopts the frames of reference and to see the world in a similar way. It is how people attach importance to a news and perceive it context within which an issue is viewed.

Framing talks about how people attach importance to certain news for e.g. in case of attack, defeat, win and loss, how the media frames the news such that people perceive it in a different way. We can take India and Pakistan war; same happening is framed in different ways in both the countries. So depending on which media you view your perception will differ. Criticisms of Agenda setting theory is Media users not ideal, people may not pay attention to details. Effect is weakened for people who have made up their mind. Media cant create problems. They can only alter the awareness, Priority etc.

Agenda Setting Theory


According to the agenda-setting theory, first developed by Prof. Maxwell McCombs and Prof. Donald Shaw in their Chapel Hill study (1968), mass media sets the agenda for public opinion by highlighting certain issues. In studying the way political campaigns were covered in the media, Shaw and McCombs found that the main effect of the news media was to set an agenda, i.e. to tell people not what to think, but what to think about as opposed to persuasion or attitude change. Agenda setting is usually referred to as a function of mass media and not a theory (McCombs & Shaw, 1972).

'Chapel Hill Study - Replication in a new media environment'


Media Tenor researchers, together with Prof. Donald Shaw and Maxwell McCombs, are conducting a study 40 years after the 'Chapel Hill Study - Replication in a new media environment' in order to present developments in Agenda Setting Research and the rising importance of the theory in this century of media power.

Agenda Setting Approach


Media Tenor compares the relationship between Reality and the Media's selection of Reality and the influence of these on Public perception. Its applied Agenda Setting research has proven that media shapes peoples' minds, especially those with no direct connection to newsworthy events. Consequently, topics not discussed in the media have proven to be irrelevant or less relevant to the public. Agenda Setting: The relationship between the salience of a story and the extent to which people think that this story is important. Further research shows that people tend to attribute importance according to media exposure. Examples of Agenda Setting Effects Agenda Cutting: As the press is selective when reporting the news, most of reality is not covered in the media and as a result, people do not regard such stories as important or even realize they exist, especially when they have no direct contact with the event or story in question. This effect is called Agenda Cutting. One example of this effect can be seen in reporting on diseases like Malaria or AIDS. Examples of Agenda Cutting Effects Agenda Surfing: The media tends to follow trends and thus surfs on the wave of topics originally mentioned in the opinion-leading media. Tracking all of the articles in opinion-media thus enables prediction of the stories that are going to be covered by the media in general in the near future, as well as prediction of the stories that are dying out. The Agenda Surfing effect can help you to place the right stories in the right media at the right time. Examples of Agenda Surfing Effects

Source: Prof. Frank Brettschneider, University Hhenheim, Germany

Media Tenor Approach:

Reality-Media-Peoples Perception
Most of the Agenda Setting Studies of the past suffered as the result of their inability to access 100 percent of the news flow, and as a consequence of this shortcoming, their results showed corresponding weaknesses. Only by incorporating the ICA=CH Model into the Agenda Setting Theory does this seem to be possible - at least, this has been the result arrived at in all seven International Agenda Setting Conferences since 1999. It is important to be aware of the problem that the relationship between media reporting and public opinion may also be affected by factors other than the opinion-leading media.

ICA=CH-Model: Breaking through the AwarenessThreshold

Please explain the ICA=CH Model

Research & Consulting

Agenda Setting Approach Strategic Media Intelligence Consulting Kit Scientific Community

Research Studies

Res

Two step flow theory core ideas


A summary of the two step flow theory of communication from the Twente University Comm Theory site:
The two-step flow of communication hypothesis was first introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet in The Peoples Choice, a 1944 study focused on the process of decision-making during a Presidential election campaign. These researchers 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 sources of influence on voting behavior. Armed with this data, Katz and Lazarsfeld developed the two-step flow theory of mass communication. This theory asserts that information from the media moves in two distinct stages. First, individuals (opinion leaders) who pay close attention to the mass media and its messages receive the information. Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content. The term personal influence was coined to refer to the process intervening between the medias direct message and the audiences ultimate reaction to that message. Opinion leaders are quite influential in getting people to change their attitudes and behaviors and are quite similar to those they influence. The two-step flow theory has improved our understanding of how the mass media influence decision making. The theory refined the ability to predict the influence of media messages on audience behavior, and it helped explain why certain media campaigns may have failed to alter audience attitudes an behavior. The two-step flow theory gave way to the multi-step flow theory of mass communication or diffusion of innovationtheory.

Two step flow readings

Elihu Katz, The two-step flow of communication: An up-to-date report on an hypothesis, Public Opinion Quarterly [0033-362X] Katz yr:1957 vol:21 iss:1 pg:61
The hypothesis that ideas often flow from radio and print to opinion leaders and from these to the less active sections of the population has been tested in several successive studies. Each study has attempted a different solution to the problem of how to take account of interpersonal relations in the traditional design of survey research. As a result, the original hypothesis is largerly corroborated and considerably refined.

Katz et al., Bridging the spheres: Political and personal conversation in public and private spaces, Journal of communication [0021-9916] Wyatt yr:2000 vol:50 iss:1 pg:71
For some theorists, talk about politics is infrequent, difficult, divisive, and, to be efficacious, must proceed according to special rules in protected spaces. We, however, examined

ordinary political conversation in common spaces, asking Americans how freely and how often they talked about 9 political and personal topics at home, work, civic organizations, and elsewhere. Respondents felt free to talk about all topics. Most topics were talked about most frequently at home and at work, suggesting that the electronic cottage is wired to the public sphere. Political conversation in most loci correlated significantly with opinion quality and political participation, indicating that such conversation is a vital component of actual democratic practice, despite the emphasis given to argumentation and formal deliberation by some normative theorists.

Elihu Katz, Rediscovering Gabriel Tarde. Political Communication [1058-4609] Katz yr:2006 vol:23 iss:3 pg:263
Gabriel Tarde (l843-1904) is thought to have lost his debates with Durkheim by insisting that sociology ought to occupy itself with observable interpersonal processes. Given contemporary interest in such processesmuch abetted by the computerTardes reputation is being rehabilitated. Terry Clark (1969) was first to notice that Tarde (1898) had anticipated Lazarzfelds two-step flow of communication. Tardes work has bearing on social networks, interpersonal influence, diffusion of innovation, and the aggregation of public opinion.

Elihu Katz. Media Multiplication and social segmentation. Elihu Katz. Media Multiplication and Social Segmentation, Ethical Perspectives, 7:2-3, 2000, 122-132.
The paper develop the idea of the classic public sphere, drawing not so much on Habermas, but on some of his predecessors and others, and especially on the French social psychologist, Gabriel Tarde. I will show how Tardes conception of the public sphere applies not only to the newspaper but perhaps even more to broadcasting. I will say a few words about how well the European model of public broadcasting fits (or better: used to fit) this vision of the public sphere. I will also introduce data from a recent American study that puts Tardes scheme to an empirical test. Then, I will shift gears. Still drawing on Tarde but a different Tarde Part Two will show another side of the same story, focusing more on the technology of the media, and their effect, not on individuals but on institutions. This part of the argument will show how the media, in succession newspapers, radio, TV, internet contribute not to the making of democracy, but to its unmaking. This part will lead to a discussion of our present situation of multi-channel television over the air, on cable, via satellite and the internet. To anticipate the climax of this part, let me say that we will find ourselves arguing that the new media are no longer geared to the nation-state and the public sphere. The concluding Part Three will try to confront the opposing tendencies of the two earlier parts. But it will do so in an academic effort at puzzlesolving rather than as a statement of deep conviction. The truth is I dont know the answers.

From two-step flow to the Internet: The changing array of sources for genetic Donald O. Case; J. David Johnson; James E. Andrews; Suzanne L. Allard; Kimber Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology; Jun 2004; 55, 8;
From Two-Step Flow to the Internet: The Changing Array of Sources for Genetics Information Seeking reevaluates the traditional two-step flow of information seeking by examining cancer genetic information seeking in the Internet environment. The two-step flow is where a person obtains information second-hand from friends and acquaintances who, in a first step, have previously obtained the same information from some other source. The researchers conducted a telephone survey in Kentucky, via random digital dialing, reaching 2,454 people, of whom 882 adults (41%) agreed to be polled. Respondents reported using the Internet first for cancer genetic information, then public libraries, and then medical doctors. The paper concludes that the Internet has changed the traditional two-step flow hypothesis of information seeking.
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Two Step Flow Theory


Posted on marzo 15, 2010 by hnagabrielafsp

History and Orientation The two-step flow of communication hypothesis was first introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet in The Peoples Choice, a 1944 study focused on the process of decision-making during a Presidential election campaign. These researchers 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 sources of influence on voting behavior. Armed with this data, Katz and Lazarsfeld developed the two-step flow theory of mass communication.

Core Assumptions and Statements This theory asserts that information from the media moves in two distinct stages. First, individuals (opinion leaders) who pay close attention to the mass media and its messages receive the information. Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content. The term personal influence was coined to refer to the process intervening between the medias direct message and the audiences ultimate reaction to that message. Opinion leaders are quite influential in getting people to change their attitudes and behaviors and are quite similar to those they influence. The two-step flow theory has improved our understanding of how the mass media influence decision making. The theory refined the ability to predict the influence of media messages on audience behavior, and it helped explain why certain media campaigns may have failed to alter audience attitudes an behavior. The two-step flow theory gave way to the multi-step flow theory of mass communication or diffusion of innovation theory.

Conceptual Model

Source: Katz & Lazarsfeld (1955) References Key publications Lazarsfeld, P.F., Berelson, B. & Gaudet, H. (1944). The peoples choice: How the voter makes up his mind in a presidential campaign. New York: Columbia University Press. Katz, E., & Lazarsfeld, P. (1955), Personal Influence, New York: The Free Press. Katz, Elihu (1973). The two-step flow of communication: an up-to-date report of an hypothesis. In Enis and Cox(eds.), Marketing Classics, p175-193. Weimann, Gabriel. (1994). Is there a two-step flow of Agenda Setting? International Journal of Public Opinion, v6, n4, p323. Baran, Stanley J. Theories of Mass Communication http://highered.mcgrawhill.com/sites/0767421906/student_view0/chapter12/glossary.html (13.Nov.2003) Cortez, Lisa Bio of Paul Lazarsfeldhttp://www.utexas.edu/coc/journalism/SOURCE/j363/lazarsfeld.html(13.N ov.2003) DeFleur, Melvin and Lowery, Shearon Milestone in Mass Communication ResearchWhite Plains,NY. Longman Publishers.1995 Mersham, Gary and Skinner, Chris. Mass Communication Audiences.http://www.comsci.co.za/acmc04/audience.html (13.Nov.2003) Underwood, Mick Mass Media: Limited Effects.http://www.cultsock.ndirect.co.uk/MUHome/cshtml/index.html (13.Nov.2003)

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Is two-step flow theory still relevant for social media research?


BY SORIN ADAM MATEI JULY 30, 2010POSTED IN: EDUCATION, FROM MASS MEDIA TO SOCIAL MEDIA COURSE, RESEARCH, SOCIAL MEDIA

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Elihu Katz, Paul Lazarsfeld, and Gabriel Tarde have already said that media are profoundly social. Newspapers were read at breakfast by our grandparents to discuss them with their buddies at lunch time. Television shows were ans till are the subject of the proverbial water cooler chats. Every once in a while I chat with my wife about the latest news we both get from Yahoo! What is then new about social media? Can media be other than social? As Gabriel Tarde and later Lazarsfeld and his students suggested, media is consumed through a two (or manybe more) step process, percolating and then returning to he newsmakers through interpersonal conversations. If that is so, did social media really bring something new to the table? If, yes, what? Only the tools? Or maybe a news social and intellectual ethos? Is this a communitarian, or individualist ethos? Is the social aspect of media equivalent to communitarian? Or are we dealing here with an altogther different kind of community, possibly one that is closer to that of communitas, a temporary state of affairs that appear only during ritualized encounters.

Two step flow theory core ideas


A summary of the two step flow theory of communication from the Twente University Comm Theory site:
The two-step flow of communication hypothesis was first introduced by Paul Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet in The Peoples Choice, a 1944 study focused on the process of decision-making during a Presidential election campaign. These researchers 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 sources of influence on voting behavior. Armed with this data, Katz and Lazarsfeld developed the two-step flow theory of mass communication. This theory asserts that information from the media moves in two distinct stages. First, individuals (opinion leaders) who pay close attention to the mass media and its messages receive the information. Opinion leaders pass on their own interpretations in addition to the actual media content. The term personal influence was coined to refer to the process intervening between the medias direct message and the audiences ultimate reaction to that message. Opinion leaders are quite influential in getting people to change their attitudes and behaviors and are quite similar to those they influence. The two-step flow theory has improved our understanding of how the mass media influence decision making. The theory refined the ability to predict the influence of media messages on audience behavior, and it helped explain why certain media campaigns may have failed to alter audience attitudes an behavior. The two-step flow theory gave way to the multi-step flow theory of mass communication or diffusion of innovationtheory.

Two step flow readings

Elihu Katz, The two-step flow of communication: An up-to-date report on an hypothesis, Public Opinion Quarterly [0033-362X] Katz yr:1957 vol:21 iss:1 pg:61
The hypothesis that ideas often flow from radio and print to opinion leaders and from these to the less active sections of the population has been tested in several successive studies. Each study has attempted a different solution to the problem of how to take account of interpersonal relations in the traditional design of survey research. As a result, the original hypothesis is largerly corroborated and considerably refined.

Katz et al., Bridging the spheres: Political and personal conversation in public and private spaces, Journal of communication [0021-9916] Wyatt yr:2000 vol:50 iss:1 pg:71
For some theorists, talk about politics is infrequent, difficult, divisive, and, to be efficacious, must proceed according to special rules in protected spaces. We, however, examined ordinary political conversation in common spaces, asking Americans how freely and how often they talked about 9 political and personal topics at home, work, civic organizations, and elsewhere. Respondents felt free to talk about all topics. Most topics were talked about most frequently at home and at work, suggesting that the electronic cottage is wired to the public sphere. Political conversation in most loci correlated significantly with opinion quality and political participation, indicating that such conversation is a vital component of actual democratic practice, despite the emphasis given to argumentation and formal deliberation by some normative theorists.

Elihu Katz, Rediscovering Gabriel Tarde. Political Communication [1058-4609] Katz yr:2006 vol:23 iss:3 pg:263
Gabriel Tarde (l843-1904) is thought to have lost his debates with Durkheim by insisting that sociology ought to occupy itself with observable interpersonal processes. Given contemporary interest in such processesmuch abetted by the computerTardes reputation is being rehabilitated. Terry Clark (1969) was first to notice that Tarde (1898) had anticipated Lazarzfelds two-step flow of communication. Tardes work has bearing on social networks, interpersonal influence, diffusion of innovation, and the aggregation of public opinion.

Elihu Katz. Media Multiplication and social segmentation. Elihu Katz. Media Multiplication and Social Segmentation, Ethical Perspectives, 7:2-3, 2000, 122-132.
The paper develop the idea of the classic public sphere, drawing not so much on Habermas, but on some of his predecessors and others, and especially on the French social psychologist, Gabriel Tarde. I will show how Tardes conception of the public sphere applies

not only to the newspaper but perhaps even more to broadcasting. I will say a few words about how well the European model of public broadcasting fits (or better: used to fit) this vision of the public sphere. I will also introduce data from a recent American study that puts Tardes scheme to an empirical test. Then, I will shift gears. Still drawing on Tarde but a different Tarde Part Two will show another side of the same story, focusing more on the technology of the media, and their effect, not on individuals but on institutions. This part of the argument will show how the media, in succession newspapers, radio, TV, internet contribute not to the making of democracy, but to its unmaking. This part will lead to a discussion of our present situation of multi-channel television over the air, on cable, via satellite and the internet. To anticipate the climax of this part, let me say that we will find ourselves arguing that the new media are no longer geared to the nation-state and the public sphere. The concluding Part Three will try to confront the opposing tendencies of the two earlier parts. But it will do so in an academic effort at puzzlesolving rather than as a statement of deep conviction. The truth is I dont know the answers.

From two-step flow to the Internet: The changing array of sources for genetic Donald O. Case; J. David Johnson; James E. Andrews; Suzanne L. Allard; Kimber Journal of the American Society for Information Science and Technology; Jun 2004; 55, 8;
From Two-Step Flow to the Internet: The Changing Array of Sources for Genetics Information Seeking reevaluates the traditional two-step flow of information seeking by examining cancer genetic information seeking in the Internet environment. The two-step flow is where a person obtains information second-hand from friends and acquaintances who, in a first step, have previously obtained the same information from some other source. The researchers conducted a telephone survey in Kentucky, via random digital dialing, reaching 2,454 people, of whom 882 adults (41%) agreed to be polled. Respondents reported using the Internet first for cancer genetic information, then public libraries, and then medical doctors. The paper concludes that the Internet has changed the traditional two-step flow hypothesis of information seeking.
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Does agenda setting theory still apply to social media? Can media system dependency account for social media? Or should communication infrastructure theory take care of it? What can uses and gratifications theory tell us about social media? The origins of media research: the effects paradigm Com 632 Syllabus: From Mass Media to Social Media Research: Theoretical and Methodological Trends

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About Sorin Adam Matei Sorin Adam Matei - Associate Professor of Communication at Purdue University - studies the relationship between information technology and social integration. He published papers and articles in Journal of Communication, Communication Research, Information Society, and Foreign Policy. Dr. Matei's teaching portfolio includes research methods, multimedia design, usability, online interaction, and online community development classes. His teaching makes use of a number of software platforms he has codeveloped, such as Visible Effort or Visible Past. Dr. Matei is also known for his media work. He is a former BBC World Service journalist whose contributions have been published in Esquire and several leading Romanian newspapers. In Romania, he is known for his books Boierii Mintii (The Mind Boyars), Idolii forului (Idols of the forum), and Idei de schimb (Spare ideas). 6 Comments

1.

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Kesha Henry
Posted September 6, 2010 at 10:04 PM

In our society people tend to use different methods or sources to obtain information and make decisions about various issues in their lives. Some of those issues may be personal while others may be political. For example as brought out in week three readings people uses various sources to obtain information and make decisions about medical issues as well as political issues. While some individual may seek information from the mass media, institutions, professional such as doctors, many studies have shown that a large number of individuals obtain medical and political information through interpersonal providers. These include personal experiences, information from family members, friends, associates, neighbors etc. According to Katz Lazersfeld (1957) Peoples inclination to seek advice from these sources as their first option instead of print and electronic media maybe described as the two step flow or the dual link model. Friends, family members, associates and other people who individuals turn to for information when making personal, political or

other important decisions that affect their lives may also be described as opinion leaders according to Katz Lazersfeld. Opinion leaders tend to influences individuals decision making and are viewed by those who they influence as knowledgeable and reliable sources of information. Other research have indicated that the internet is also another source that many individuals turn to for medical information. Since the internet consists of large number of websites about health related topics many individuals search the various website before or after they consult medical doctors. One of the questions that have been raised is related to the accuracy and reliability of the medical information that is found on these websites. Some researchers have found that many of the medical information that was found on some of these websites were written and posted by people who are not medical professionals. While there are many concerns about the unreliability of the internet for making medical decisions other have identified several advantages of the internet for medical issues. One of those advantages is individuals ability to remain anonymous when seeking medical information about specific medical issues that are generally viewed as sensitive to discuss openly. Some of the factors that were also taken into account in these studies include age, socio economic status, educational level and many other factors which are associated with the sources that individuals chose to go to for medical information. For example research has shown that individuals who are educated with high income levels are more likely to go to the internet for medical information as their first option. Contrary to what some people may believe that people who are more educated with higher incomes would seek professional medical care first. This was also true for younger individuals while older individuals tend to seek professional medical care. The two step flow and opinion leaders approach are both evident and active in the way people are influences by others who they see as informed or knowledgeable about certain issues that are of importance to them whether personal, political of otherwise. These authoritative and influential individuals which include friends, relatives, associates, co-

workers etc. are generally exposed to the media to a greater extent than the people that they influence however, they may not necessarily be impacted by the media but by others.
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Amicheel
Posted September 7, 2010 at 9:14 AM

The final article suggests the internet has changed the nature of two-step flow. In the study, the authors found the strongest preference for information seeking was The Internet or Web at 46.5% of respondents. The authors question whether the internet truly provides the best source of information using statements like the Internet is not a good source for individuals seeking help with making decisions (p. 664) and the potential for misinformation and misunderstanding (p. 666). Is it methodologically sound to refer to The Internet or Web as a single source of information? Less preferred sources of information in the study use the internet as a communication tool or distribution channel. For example, hosptial programs and county health officials can maintain a website that communicates reliable information. Further, magazines and newspapers could be accessed through the internet. An individual consumer may prefer those types of traditional media, but find the newspapers website easier to search when they are seeking specific information. Therefore, the preference of the Internet is overstated, as consumers may use the web to seek information through the additional sources mentioned in the study. Indeed, the authors acknowledge that the National Library of Medicines website contains information that is accessible and reliable. Returning to the two-step flow theory, at the time of this article it would be difficult to assess the influence of opinion leaders through Internet sources. The research pre-dates

the advent of Facebook, Twitter or other social media sites. Connections through these websites can mimic a personal connection to persons and organizations that are trusted for advice and information. One need only view the followers or fans of a celebrity for a cursory analysis of their influence. In a health context, Dr. Oz has 328,000+ followers as of this morning. The internet and social media extend an interpersonal network, both through enabling passive communication with a larger group of family and friends and also through receiving daily communication through a broader network of celebrities or experts. Further, an opinion leader who is a family member or friend may use social media to pass on sources of information advanced by their trusted experts. In this context, the internet has expanded the two-step flow theory as individuals have a broader concept of friends and network communication is quickly and easily facilitated. Interested what everyone thought
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Sorin Adam Matei


Posted September 8, 2010 at 6:29 PM

@amicheel Amanda, first off, there is a lot of confusion not only in this study, but in general, in mass media research, when it comes to studying Internet effects. They shouldve broken down, of course. the medium into its components. The problem is that we do not have a lot of recent research in the two-step flow vein. If you find something useful, pass it along.
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Sorin Adam Matei


Posted September 7, 2010 at 9:20 PM

@Kesha Good points. On Tuesday we also discussed how mediated and interpersonal interactions are not just competing, but also connected in a wider web of interactions and they feed into each other. How does this impact the issue of credibility.
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Kavitha Rabindran
Posted September 9, 2010 at 4:52 AM

As per your questions raised in the blog blurb, my thoughts are that, social media is currently defined from the perspective of the Internet platform (Kaplan et al., 2010). The weeks readings as well as past research by Wellman and Grannovetter indicate that the phenomenon was studied but just never termed as social media. So, in retrospect, -Shouldnt social media be redefined to include a system of mass media and the information processing that occurs at an interpersonal level? -Perhaps, it is the case of tools (something new brought up by social media) that is new. Dont these tools afford the opportunity to measure the effects of interpersonal influence and hence the perceived reemergence of social media. As for the Case et al. (2004) article, I felt that comparing mass media to internet (web media) may not be appropriate in health information seeking. Simply consider, the 24/7

accessibility of information on internet. In the mass media, information provision occurs rather than information seeking. It is the issue of user control.
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Sorin Adam Matei


Posted September 10, 2010 at 8:21 AM

@Kavitha There is a lot of confusion in the research community about these issues. We discussed the problem at length. Conclusion: avoid using the Internet as a choice for media use questions.
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Does agenda setting theory still apply to social media? Can media system dependency account for social media? Or should communication infrastructure theory take care of it? What can uses and gratifications theory tell us about social media? The origins of media research: the effects paradigm

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