Opinion Leader Course

The opinion leader is an active media user who interprets the meaning or content of media messages for low to medium media users. Typically, the opinion leader is highly regarded by those who accept her views. Opinion leadership is usually limited to a few topics, ie that a person who is an opinion leader in one field may be a follower in another field. An example of an opinion leader in the field of information technology would be a neighbor by a professional computer technician. The technician has access to much more information in this field than the average user and has the necessary background to understand the related information. According to this theory, the message produced by the media (first level of the communication flow) is "filtered" from the interpersonal relationships that are established between individuals (and between them and the leaders) and is therefore postponed to a second level. This theory has been the subject of numerous criticisms because it considers the individual as a passive receiver and subsequently expanded by Lazarsfeld himself, considering the process of dissemination of communications no longer at two levels, but at several stages, in which messages are filtered by different subjects . The figure of the opinion leader is at the center, among others, of the theory of the two-step flow of communication. Theorists have identified a number of characteristics that make it so. The embodiment of values ​​in which one's community, one's reference group can recognize itself first and foremost. Likewise, being equipped with a range of technical and professional skills: much of the credibility of an opinion maker derives, in fact, from his being recognized as competent in matters and topics with respect to which he wishes to exercise his own leadership. However, it obviously cannot lack good social skills and the ability to weave positive relationships.