Analysis on the Role of Opinion Leaders
Three Case Studies Based on Two-step Flow Communication Theory
- DOI
- 10.2991/assehr.k.220105.164How to use a DOI?
- Keywords
- Opinion Leaders; two-step flow communication theory; social networks
- Abstract
Opinion leader is an important concept derived from the two-level communication theory, with special emphasis on the role and function of “middleman” in the process of mass communication. With the development of Internet technology and social media, traditional opinion leaders began to transform to new opinion leaders, and gradually played a more diversified role in the online world. This paper takes three cases as examples to analyse the role of opinion leaders. Specifically, the cases are the public opinion leaders on public emergency under the background of COVID-19, the promotion of knowledge bloggers to education, and the new opinion leaders in internet celebrity economy. According to the analysis, the effect of opinion leaders in modern society is very diverse and extensive. In detail, network opinion leaders are easier to be concerned and trusted by the public, which has a positive social impact while often possesses a negative impact for many reasons. This study will provide some case study basis for the research on the influence of opinion leaders in the new media era, and will be beneficial to further explore some problems such as the generation of the influence of opinion leaders in the future.
- Copyright
- © 2022 The Authors. Published by Atlantis Press SARL.
- Open Access
- This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license.
Cite this article
TY - CONF AU - Hanwen Zheng AU - Peishan Song AU - Yiran Zhang PY - 2022 DA - 2022/01/17 TI - Analysis on the Role of Opinion Leaders BT - Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Social Development and Media Communication (SDMC 2021) PB - Atlantis Press SP - 889 EP - 894 SN - 2352-5398 UR - https://doi.org/10.2991/assehr.k.220105.164 DO - 10.2991/assehr.k.220105.164 ID - Zheng2022 ER -