Annotated Bibliography: The Two-Step Flow Of Communication

“Social media platforms held the promise of being more egalitarian and democratic than mass media in a sense that all users could equally participate and contribute content” (Dijck & Poell, 6). This explains a basic purpose of social media that remains consistent with the democratic values of freedom that the U.S. is founded upon by providing citizens with a platform where they are free to speak their mind. What makes this even more interesting is the ability for people to share their opinions on a stage that has relatively no geographical boundaries. Rather than restricting the spread of individuals’ beliefs, social networking sites help spread messages and information to anyone, faster than was previously possible. According to Dijck and Poell, “social media platforms seldom deal with ‘natural’ geographically or demographically delineated audiences; instead, they expedite connections between individuals, partly allowing the formation of strategic alliances or communities through users’ initiative” (Dijck & Poell, 8). Social networking sites are naturally designed to increase connectivity and interactions among individuals with common interests or beliefs. The idea of connectivity has significantly influenced the way in which protests are held in America and around the world.

It being the leading source of news since the printing press. We put our faith in the media to report accurate facts unbiasedly. Between 1983 and now the media industry has consolidated from 50 individual companies to 6. That means that though the impression given is that there are a multitude of sources to attain information, the messages being communicated are all one in the same. The limitation of media sources cause a ripple effect of limited information, allowing these companies to control the public’s perception on

Traditional media was a one-way street limiting the ability to give any thought on the issues at hand. Social media, however, offers a two-way street effect that enables the user the ability to communicate. Social media is a great tool for both keeping in touch with family and friends, as well as staying up to date on current affairs worldwide. Social media and networking sites have become popular these days and people of all ages, denominations, color and creed are meeting online to interact at social media websites.

Monica Anderson and Andrea Caumont investigate how social media sites are reshaping the news and their effectiveness in engaging their audience. The authors posed five questions in their article, considering how social media users participate in and discover news, as well as the impact of social media on discussion of news events. Anderson and Caumont found that social media users are very likely to share news stories, discuss the events, and even share their own coverage of a news event. They also found that users often spend more time on a news site if they arrived there directly, rather than through a social media site. Finally, the authors state that social media can stifle one’s willingness to share their own opinion and discuss a news event. The authors obtained these conclusions by utilizing data from the Pew Research Center. This source is useful to my research topic as it sheds light on the ability of social media to encourage discussion of news stories.

The media, interest groups, and political standard is a fascinating marriage in our mechanically exceptional social order. It is better comprehended when differentiated into their singular commitment to our social order to positively feel their effect on our day by day lives. Broad communications is characterized as a method for correspondence that achieves a huge volume of individuals in a short measure of time (broad communications). Interest groups could be better seen as an aggregation that is resolved to forestall or help change open arrangement without the need of being chosen (Twyman & Whitney, 2009). Furthermore, popular conclusion is characterized as the whole of all unique convictions in a given populace. By understanding what these parts of the current political ideal model should speak to we can better see how this marriage has been tainted and the electorate is, no doubt deceived.

Politics in The United States has been reinforced with the usage of Mass Media since the 1780s. Mass media became one of the most reliable news sources in the world because it gives people the ability to communicate each other and be knowledgeable of the latest news worldwide. Indeed, mass media has changed how the world communicate through written, visual and audible tools that are known as, newspapers, television, radio and social media. Nowadays, the Internet has become one of the most important mass media influence because of the impact it has on persuading and transmitting fast information to people around the world. Younger people not only are dependent of the internet but, politicians, businesses, adults and kids are influenced by this

Despite the impact that social changes have had in the way we now understand the public sphere, it still prevails the idea of keeping a group of intellectuals who takes care of reliable sources of information. According to it, the aim is having channels that help people make political decisions. This assumption places the media—and, therefore, the elite that directs them—in a privileged role in society. This also supports Zaller’s view of elites controlling the messages that go public; but I think it is worth to consider if this is really sufficient for the decision-making process? Do people receive all information they need to appropriately make decisions, particularly political

Social media can be seen from completely different aspects and points of views. A major role in these different opinions plays mostly the age of the beholder, because social media made an enormous change in the last 50 years. One very important aspect in our today’s society is to get as many information as possible in a very short time period ("Impacts of social media”) Through social media and especially social networks such as twitter and Facebook, the information gets spread extremely fast. There are for example reporters who search on those networks to get information for their news and articles. (“Impacts

As a researcher, Speakman used interactivity, gatekeeping, spiral of silence, habit and agendamelding theories to conduct studies that examine how people engage with each other and the media’s role in creating and maintaining those communities. Furthermore, the media must understand the audience if they hope to reach a public that increasingly has more methods of receiving information.

The most critical aspects in the concept of an agenda-setting role of mass communication is the time frame (Agenda-Setting Hypothesis). Referring back to the case immediate response from the airport to gain support occurred rapidly. With the help of the community leaders (opinion leaders), residents, and individual business yield positive responses the airport wanted. Despite the protest of the master plan the airport was able to turn that negative into a plus. Let’s not forget the media that was used to educate residents about the airport. It is clear how the public opinion and comminution within the two are crucial. The public opinion takes into account the wide range of sides people will take. Once the message is delivered feedback from the public is expected. The feedback is the action taken by the public. Two sides were seen in this case; the residents that supported the plan and the residents that did not. The action can be predicted with great communications outlets also called channels. The support cards, video and website were examples used in this

Public opinion is not just a belief, but rather an expression of a view that is central to a functioning democracy. In 1965 Krugman stated that advertising doesn’t change attitudes, it simply changes the perception of what should matter when buying. Whether what that citizen is buying is a certain brand of coffee or the idea of going to war, communication is the cornerstone for how our society functions as a whole. Public relations is not just for products and companies, it shapes ideas and movements. With an increasing global market and issues the need for public relations has and will continue to grow.

There are two types of media, and each type has his way to broadcast the information. “These two types are traditional and-social” (Hayles K., 2004). Traditional media includes: radio, magazines, newspapers, television, different publications and so on. Social media is the process of the informational interchange. In recent years, social media became part of everybody’s life. People exchange the information, opinions, news everywhere: in blogs, social networks, forums, etc. People became sources to each other. The importance of social media is rising extremely.

Baran, J. S. and Davis, K. D. (2012) Mass Communication Theory: Foundations, Ferment, and Future (6th ed.). Wadsworth, USA.

The term ‘social media’ has become a broad-term to describe a large number of online systems that serve as a platform for the generation, and distribution of user-generated content. Social media creates a virtual social space, where a large number of users come together and interact with one another. These interactions can be either structured, such as responses that are moderated on blogs, semi-structured, such as a discussion between an extended network on Facebook, or unstructured, such as the anarchial functioning of Twitter.

Understanding the Convergence of Media Systems and Political Communication in the U.S. and Western Europe