Editing Agenda-setting theory (section)

==== Empowerment-of-masses and decentralizing impact of Internet ====
{{anchor | Internet }}
{{see also | Internet influences on communities }}

The advent of the Internet and social networks give rise to a variety of opinions concerning agenda-setting effects online. Some have claimed that the power of traditional media has been weakened.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Meraz |first1=Sharon |year=2011 |title=The fight for 'how to think': Traditional media, social networks, and issue interpretation |journal=Journalism |volume=12 |issue=1 |pages=107–127 |doi=10.1177/1464884910385193 |s2cid=145628571}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wallsten |first1=Kevin |year=2007 |title=Agenda setting and the blogosphere: An analysis of the relationship between mainstream media and political blogs |journal=Review of Policy Research |volume=24 |issue=6 |pages=567–587 |doi=10.1111/j.1541-1338.2007.00300.x}}</ref> Others think that the agenda-setting process and its role have continued on the Internet, specifically in electronic bulletin boards.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Roberts |first1=Marilyn |last2=Wanta |first2=Wayne |last3=Dustin Dzwo |first3=Tzong-Horng |year=2002 |title=Agenda setting and issue salience online |journal=Communication Research |volume=29 |issue=4 |pages=452–465 |doi=10.1177/0093650202029004004 |s2cid=16457943}}</ref> Popular handles on social media sites such as Twitter can choose what they want their followers to see. Users can also choose which accounts they want to follow and news they want to see on any social media platform. While some theorize that the rise of social media will bring a downfall to journalists' ability to set the agenda, there is considerable scholarship to counterbalance this form of thinking.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Thomas |first=Ryan J |date=2017-02-12 |title=Book Review: Jeffrey C Alexander, Elizabeth Butler Breese and María Luengo (eds) The crisis of journalism reconsidered: Democratic culture, professional codes, digital futureAlexanderJeffrey CBreeseElizabeth ButlerLuengoMaría (eds) The crisis of journalism reconsidered: Democratic culture, professional codes, digital futureNew York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2016. 298 pp. ISBN 9781107448513 |journal=Journalism: Theory, Practice & Criticism |language=en |volume=18 |issue=7 |pages=927–929 |doi=10.1177/1464884917692894 |s2cid=151614150}}</ref>

Traditional media such as newspapers and broadcast television are "vertical media" in which authority, power and influence come from the "top" and flow "down" to the public. Nowadays vertical media is undergoing rapid decline with the growing of "horizontal media" – new media enables everyone to become a source of information and influence, which means the media is "distributed horizontally instead of top-down".<ref>{{Cite web |date=4 October 2013 |title=As Digital Media Gets 'Horizontal,' It Acts More Like Local Businesses {{!}} Street Fight |url=http://streetfightmag.com/2013/10/04/as-digital-media-gets-horizontal-it-acts-more-like-local-businesses/ |access-date=2015-11-05}}</ref>