Two-Step Flow Of Communication

The two-step flow of communication model (sometimes just called the two step flow theory) is a hypothesis that posits the belief that ideas flow upward from the mass media to opinion leaders.

The ideas then go from the opinion leaders back down to the wider population as a whole. This model was first introduced in 1944 by Paul Lazarsfeld, Berelson, and Gaudet and then elaborated on in 1955 by Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz. These two stages of how information from the media moves suggests that opinion leaders take the media and then pass it along to others with their perceptions and opinions of the content along with it (this is called the opinion leaders' "personal influence").