Editing Two-step flow of communication (section)

== Concept ==
The two-step model says that most people are not directly influenced by mass media, and instead form their opinions based on opinion leaders who interpret media messages and put them into context. Opinion leaders are those initially exposed to a specific media content, and who interpret it based on their own opinion. They then begin to infiltrate these opinions through the [[general public]] who become "opinion followers".<ref>{{cite book|first1=Stanley J.|last1=Baran|first2=Dennis K.|last2=Davis|url=http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0767421906/student_view0/chapter12/glossary.html|title=Introduction to Mass Communication|chapter=Theories of Mass Communication: Glossary|publisher=[[McGraw-Hill Education]]|location=New York City|date=2014|isbn=978-1285052076|via=McGraw-Hill Online Learning Center}}</ref> These "opinion leaders" gain their influence through more elite media as opposed to mainstream [[mass media]].<ref name="Katz & Lazarsfeld 1955">{{cite news|last=Katz & Lazarsfeld|title=Personal Influence|newspaper=New York: Free Press|year=1955}}</ref> In this process, [[social influence]] is created and adjusted by the ideals and opinions of each specific "elite media" group, and by these media group's opposing ideals and opinions and in combination with popular mass media sources. Therefore, the leading influence in these opinions is primarily a social persuasion.<ref>{{cite book|last=Staubhaar, LaRose, Davenport|title=Media Now|year=2009|publisher=Wadsworth Cengage Learning|location=Belmont, Ca|isbn=978-0-495-56595-6|pages=415–416}}</ref>