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.