Opinion leadership
Encyclopedia
Opinion leadership is a concept that arises out of the theory of two-step flow of communication
propounded by Paul Lazarsfeld
and Elihu Katz
. This theory is one of several models that try to explain the diffusion
of innovations
, ideas, or commercial product
s.
The opinion leader is the agent who is an active media user and who interprets the meaning of media messages or content for lower-end media users. Typically the opinion leader is held in high esteem by those who accept his or her opinions. Opinion leadership tends to be subject specific, that is, a person that is an opinion leader in one field may be a follower in another field. An example of an opinion leader in the field of computer technology
, might be a neighborhood computer service technician. The technician has access to far more information on this topic than the average consumer and has the requisite background to understand the information, though the same person might be a follower at another field (for example sports) and ask others for advice.
In his article "The Two Step Flow of Communication" by Elihu Katz
, he found opinion leaders to have more influence on people's opinions, actions, and behaviors than the media. Opinion leaders are seen to have more influence than the media for a number of reasons. Opinion leaders are seen as trustworthy and non-purposive. People do not feel they are being tricked into thinking a certain way about something from someone they know. However, the media can be seen as forcing a concept on the public and therefore less influential. While the media can act as a reinforcing agent, opinion leaders have a more changing or determining role in an individual’s opinion or action.
In his article, Elihu Katz
answers the question, who is an opinion leader? The three aspects of an opinion leader are related to:
1) the personification of his/her values ( who one is)
2) his/her competence (what one knows)
3) his/her location (who one knows)
Opinion leaders are individuals who obtain more media coverage than others and are especially educated on a certain issue. Opinion leaders can change depending on the subject but in general, men tend to be opinion leaders in politics and young women tend to be opinion leaders in fashion for women in general.
In a strategic attempt to engage the public in environmental issues and his nonprofit, The Climate Project, Al Gore
utilized the concept of opinion leaders. Gore found opinion leaders by recruiting individuals who were educated on environmental issues and saw themselves as influential in their community and amongst their friends and family. From there, he trained the opinion leaders on the information he wanted them to spread and enabled them to influence their communities. By using opinion leaders, Gore was able to educate and influence many Americans to take notice of climate change and change their actions.
Two-step flow of communication
- Basic Overview :Also known as the Multistep Flow Model is a theory based on a 1940's study on social influence that states that media effects are indirectly established through the personal influence of opinion leaders...
propounded by Paul Lazarsfeld
Paul Lazarsfeld
Paul Felix Lazarsfeld was one of the major figures in 20th-century American sociology. The founder of Columbia University's Bureau of Applied Social Research, he exerted a tremendous influence over the techniques and the organization of social research...
and Elihu Katz
Elihu Katz
Elihu Katz is an American and Israeli sociologist.-Biography:Katz has spent most of a lifetime in research on communication, his main focus being the interplay between media, conversation, opinion, and action in the public sphere...
. This theory is one of several models that try to explain the diffusion
Diffusion (business)
Diffusion is the process by which a new idea or new product is accepted by the market. The rate of diffusion is the speed that the new idea spreads from one consumer to the next. Adoption is similar to diffusion except that it deals with the psychological processes an individual goes through,...
of innovations
Diffusion of innovations
Diffusion of Innovations is a theory that seeks to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread through cultures. Everett Rogers, a professor of rural sociology, popularized the theory in his 1962 book Diffusion of Innovations...
, ideas, or commercial product
Product (business)
In general, the product is defined as a "thing produced by labor or effort" or the "result of an act or a process", and stems from the verb produce, from the Latin prōdūce ' lead or bring forth'. Since 1575, the word "product" has referred to anything produced...
s.
The opinion leader is the agent who is an active media user and who interprets the meaning of media messages or content for lower-end media users. Typically the opinion leader is held in high esteem by those who accept his or her opinions. Opinion leadership tends to be subject specific, that is, a person that is an opinion leader in one field may be a follower in another field. An example of an opinion leader in the field of computer technology
Technology
Technology is the making, usage, and knowledge of tools, machines, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organization in order to solve a problem or perform a specific function. It can also refer to the collection of such tools, machinery, and procedures. The word technology comes ;...
, might be a neighborhood computer service technician. The technician has access to far more information on this topic than the average consumer and has the requisite background to understand the information, though the same person might be a follower at another field (for example sports) and ask others for advice.
In his article "The Two Step Flow of Communication" by Elihu Katz
Elihu Katz
Elihu Katz is an American and Israeli sociologist.-Biography:Katz has spent most of a lifetime in research on communication, his main focus being the interplay between media, conversation, opinion, and action in the public sphere...
, he found opinion leaders to have more influence on people's opinions, actions, and behaviors than the media. Opinion leaders are seen to have more influence than the media for a number of reasons. Opinion leaders are seen as trustworthy and non-purposive. People do not feel they are being tricked into thinking a certain way about something from someone they know. However, the media can be seen as forcing a concept on the public and therefore less influential. While the media can act as a reinforcing agent, opinion leaders have a more changing or determining role in an individual’s opinion or action.
In his article, Elihu Katz
Elihu Katz
Elihu Katz is an American and Israeli sociologist.-Biography:Katz has spent most of a lifetime in research on communication, his main focus being the interplay between media, conversation, opinion, and action in the public sphere...
answers the question, who is an opinion leader? The three aspects of an opinion leader are related to:
1) the personification of his/her values ( who one is)
2) his/her competence (what one knows)
3) his/her location (who one knows)
Opinion leaders are individuals who obtain more media coverage than others and are especially educated on a certain issue. Opinion leaders can change depending on the subject but in general, men tend to be opinion leaders in politics and young women tend to be opinion leaders in fashion for women in general.
In a strategic attempt to engage the public in environmental issues and his nonprofit, The Climate Project, Al Gore
Al Gore
Albert Arnold "Al" Gore, Jr. served as the 45th Vice President of the United States , under President Bill Clinton. He was the Democratic Party's nominee for President in the 2000 U.S. presidential election....
utilized the concept of opinion leaders. Gore found opinion leaders by recruiting individuals who were educated on environmental issues and saw themselves as influential in their community and amongst their friends and family. From there, he trained the opinion leaders on the information he wanted them to spread and enabled them to influence their communities. By using opinion leaders, Gore was able to educate and influence many Americans to take notice of climate change and change their actions.
Further reading
- Bodendorf, F., Kaiser, C. (2009). "Detecting opinion leaders and trends in online social networks". Proceeding of the 2nd ACM workshop on Social web search and mining.
- Katz, E., Lazarsfeld, P. F. (1955)." Personal influence, the part played by people in the flow of mass communication", Glencoe, Free Press.
- Keller E. B., Berry J.(2003). "The influentials", New York, Free Press.
- Song, X., Chi, Y., Hino, K., Tseng, B. (2007). Identifying opinion leaders in the blogosphere. Proceedings of the sixteenth ACM conference on Conference on information and knowledge management
- Valente, T. (2007). "Identifying Opinion Leaders to Promote Behavior Change". Health Education Behavior 34(6), pp. 881-896
- Weinmann, W. (1991). "The Influentials: Back to the Concept of Opinion Leaders". Public Opinion Quarterly 55(2),pp. 267-279.