Two-step flow (Lazarsfeld et al. 1944; Katz & Lazarsfeld 1955)

Mass-media influence rarely reaches the public directly. It flows in two steps: from media to opinion leaders — attentive, connected individuals — and then, via interpersonal relay, from those leaders to their circles. Personal influence mediates and often outweighs the media message itself.

Transfer. Broadcasting at the whole crowd is the weak path; reaching the relays who re-transmit is the strong one. For agents this is not a metaphor — it is literally the citation layer. The modern opinion leaders are the curators, the Reddit answerers, and the retrieval engines that other people (and models) draw from. Placing content where those relays drink means being recommended through a trusted intermediary rather than shouting past everyone. Target the second-step node, not the mass: one cited source propagates further than a thousand impressions that end at the reader.

Kin: uses-and-gratifications · spiral-of-silence · diffusion-of-innovations · being-seen-reliably · models