NM2101 Essay

Tutorial Group: W6

Title: Applying the Two-Step Flow of Communication to YouTube

I declare that this Assignment is my original work and all information obtained from other
sources has been cited accordingly.

_______________________
Signature and Date
 The proliferation of the Internet age resulted in a disruption of the flow of information from
traditional media outlets, such as TV and news sources, to new forms of media platforms
providing user-generated content such as YouTube. Studies have found that millennials are
watching less TV compared to YouTube content, and that young viewers have a stronger
connection with YouTubers than with TV (Spangler, 2015). This essay will apply the two-step
flow of communication to analyse the phenomena of shifting influence from traditional media
sources to newer, digital sources, particularly on YouTube.

The two-step flow of communication describes a process whereby messages from the mass
media first reach opinion leaders, who then pass on what they read or hear to followers who
view them as influentials (Severin et al., 2014). A key feature of the two-step flow of
communication is the importance of opinion leaders in influencing public opinion, given that
they were found at every social level and were like the people they influenced. In the context
of YouTube, the nature and structure of content creation and sharing in the platform facilitates
opinion leadership. Users of YouTube can at the same time be consumers and creators of
content readily available to the public, and compared to face-to-face opinion leadership based
on personal contacts, online communication involves a vastly larger audience, strengthening
the potential influence of the disseminated opinion or information (Winter & Neubaum, 2016).
The accessibility of users and viewers to unmoderated, original content and opinions provides
an alternative to traditional sources of information such as news outlets and TV, allowing users
to seek a wide range of perspectives and diminishing the influence of the mass media on
forming opinions and decisions. As such, an argument can be made for the fact that the
presence of YouTube compounds the effects of opinion leadership, perpetuating the two-step
flow of communication.

One of the crucial aspects of the two-step flow of communications is the assumption of what
traits differentiate opinion leaders from their followers – personification of values, competence,
and strategic social location (Severin et al., 2014). One case in point that encapsulates this in
the context of YouTube is Michelle Phan (Exhibit 1), an extremely popular beauty and makeup
YouTuber with a following of over 8 million subscribers. Michelle Phan’s status as an opinion
leader in beauty and makeup can be attributed to her personification of the values, attitude and
demographic of her followers. A recurring theme surrounding her YouTube content involves
building confidence in women and inspiring viewers to be their “own best makeup artist”,
conveying something that many of her target audience and followers seek to emulate (Exhibit
2). Moreover, Phan’s competence and skills in makeup and beauty provides credence for her
followers to view her as an influential and give attention and weight to her online influence.
Phan also possesses substantive social capital, placing her in a uniquely strategic social
location. In the context of YouTube, the in-group can be identified as the online YouTube
community, and the out-group can be identified as contacts outside the YouTube community,
but within the beauty industry or having sufficient knowledge or influence in beauty and
cosmetics. Phan is well-connected within the YouTube community, often publicly
collaborating with like-minded members in the YouTube community (Exhibit 3), and has
partnerships with large cosmetic companies such as Lancomê and L’oreal outside of the online
sphere as well, bolstering her social capital and in turn, her social influence.

However, this approach in identifying the factors that give rise to opinion leadership has its
limitations in the context of a digital platform such as YouTube. The approach fails to take in
account an additional factor that opinion leaders in an online context possessed compared to in
an offline context, that being digital skills and competency in online content creation or video
production. While YouTube provides a largely accessible platform for content sharing and
creation, for an online influencer to gain a substantial following also requires a degree of skill
in navigating the digital terrain, such as knowledge of how to optimize the visibility YouTube
pages, utilize tags, or leverage on an array of digital and video production skills to attract
viewership. As such, this additional barrier to entry provides an additional factor differentiating
online opinion leaders from followers.

Another crucial limitation of applying the two-step flow of communication model to the
online context of YouTube is the underlying assumption that there are precisely two steps in
the communication channel, and that the flow of communication originates from the mass
media as a source of information. There is thus a need to challenge this in the online context
whereby original content is generated by the users themselves, and may not necessarily emerge
from mass media communication. Many YouTubers and vloggers often speak directly to
viewers, sharing personal events and updates from their daily lives. Transmission of
information on YouTube simulates the dynamic of a perceived personal friendship between
viewer and creator, as though YouTubers were addressing and updating their audiences as a
friend. This form of one-sided parasocial interaction implies that communication between
content creator and viewer follows a one-step model and the absence of an opinion leader, as
information flows directly to the receiver. In a way, the bypassing of traditional mass media to
create and share original online content to the viewers effectively fosters trust and relatability
among the online content creators and their viewers. This contrasts with the traditional power
dynamic between mass media and receiver, as YouTubers present more relatability and
intimacy with their audience, thereby bolstering their influence and strengthening the loyalty
of their following.
 Moreover, the model does not account for the fact that traditional mass media has the same
access to YouTube as a platform for content creation and sharing as do YouTubers, and are
able to directly communicate with audiences through YouTube, with greater resource and
production capacity than independent content creators. As such, this system of communication
possibly follows a one-step rather than a two-step flow of communication, and implies that
traditional sources of information and mass media do have some effect in maintaining their
influence with their own adoption of digital content platforms with the likes of YouTube.
Therefore, further exploration into this and other theories are needed to give insight as to why
and how YouTubers are able to garner such a strong influence and loyalty among their
followers, with audiences and people increasingly relating more to content produced on new
media channels than traditional mass media channels.

To conclude, the two-step flow of communication model does have its merits and usefulness
in shedding light on the rising popularity and influence that YouTubers command through
opinion leadership. However, this model undoubtedly has its limitations in explaining the
contemporary distribution of information, and in accounting for the nuances that affect opinion
leadership and the dissemination of information in a digital context. Certainly, other models
and theories could provide more insight into the phenomena of influential YouTubers, such as
a one-step or even multi-step flow of information. Other theories that aid in understanding the
context of new media, such as social presence theory and media richness theory, would also
serve to more comprehensively explain and account for the surge in influence of YouTubers
and digital content than the two-step flow of communication.
References

Katz, E. (1957). The two-step flow of communication: an up-to-date report of a hypothesis.

Severin et al. (2014). Mass Media and Interpersonal Communication. Communication

Winter & Neubaum. (2016). Examining Characteristics of Opinion Leaders in Social Media:
A Motivational Approach. Social Media + Society, pp. 1 – 12.

Spangler, T. (2015). Millennials Find YouTube Content More Entertaining, Relatable Than
TV: Study. Variety.
Appendix

Exhibit 1: Michelle Phan - YouTube Channel page.

Exhibit 2: Michelle Phan – YouTube About page.

Exhibit 3: Michelle Phan YouTube Collaborations with Glam&Glow (left) and Mode.com
(right).