Is this News? I Gather.

Cortland Terry
2 min readSep 13, 2021

For anything that I’m about to say regarding how I apply the two-step theory my news-gathering routines and how I share news, it would probably be helpful to define our terms. The two-step flow of communications (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. Now, to make this stuffy definition more relatable to us “regular” people, this simply says that most people form their opinions under the influence of opinion/thought leaders, who in turn are influenced by mass media. This is a total contrast of the hypodermic needle model and what we know about one-step flow theory.

Photo by Cytonn Photography on Unsplash

The two-step flow theory is something that I use routinely, and probably without often thinking about because of how I gather and share information on social media. I often find trusted sources (and by sources I mean people) who share my general thoughts/perspective, but are often more eloquent in communicating it, and repost it on social media, which in this case is my source of mass media.

If you ask me, it’s a perfect example of how to project that you’re intelligent without having to “say” that you’re intelligent or come up with your own intellectual content. It’s weird, but over time, people begin to associate with the information that you communicate. This is my idea of “faking it until you make it.”

It’s only fitting to provide an example of what I’m talking about. One of my favorite people is Gary Vaynerchuck. While his delivery is heavily laced with profanity, many consider him as one of the thought leaders in marketing and entrepreneurship.

The quote above is an example of something that I‘d post of Gary Vaynerchuk that appeals to a wide array of people, but because it’s a quote of his, it projects a sense of surety and wisdom. This is definitely an opportunity to impact mass media via social media.

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