Opinion Leader Theory

Opinion leadership is leadership by an active media user who interprets the meaning of media messages or content for lower-end media users. Typically the opinion leader is held in high regard by those who accept his or her opinions. Opinion leadership comes from the theory of two-step flow of communication elaborated by Paul Lazarsfeld and Elihu Katz. Despite the enduring popularity of the concept of opinion leadership, academic researchers have only recently begun to explore the ramifications of online opinion leadership. However, it is prominent the idea that online opinion leaders differ to their offline equivalents. And the major distinction in the online environment is that opinion leaders and non-leaders are much more similar than they are in the off-line world.