The two step flow theory is a communication model which states that media messages don’t directly influence the general public but are rather filtered through the options of leaders first. These influential people can take the form of family members, friends or even a celebrity. And as the theory implies from the name that there is only two steps in the theory, the first on being the: Media to Opinion Leader – this is where the information from mass media sources like the news or advertisements which is then received by the leader and interpreted by the opinion leader, who are more engaged with the media. And the second step is: Opinion Leader to the Public – the opinion leader communicates the information along with their own interpretation to their social circles which includes their friends and family. The two step flow theory can be applied today, especially with what is happening in America with the No Kings protest that have gone on, and from the influencers that went to the protects, content creators like Harry Sisson on Tiktok, he posts a lot about what Trump posts on his own social media and how it it just proving his point and this can relate to the two step flow theory as Harry is taking media that he found or was given and adding his own options to them and expressing that to his followers. Also the stuff the Trump and JD Vance post and say on their social media can be linked back to the two step flow theory as they have all this information about the US government shutting down and with everything that has been going on they take the media that they have and chance it to make them look good in the eyes of their followers and they change messages to make it sound like them and add their own options to it as well, like how they always blame Biden or the Democrats for all the mistakes that have actually come from Trump and JD Vance. The two step flow theory can be applied to our understanding of contemporary media and communication as the two step flow theory suggests and shows in diagrams that the media that we as a society consume is not always the truth as it goes through lots of different influences like the news or influencers that we follow, and that we trust what these influencers have to say as a lot of the time we follow people online because their political views align with our own and so we have more trust in these influencers then our local news or government. The two step flow theory can also be applied to my own practice as the idea of making art is like the two step flow theory as the artist is the in place of the ‘Opinion Leader’ as they take the media they want their art to focus or a message they want to send to the viewer. And the viewer of the art in the ‘Public’ who consumes the media and the message the artist wants to convey.
