Towards a Theory of Campaigns: The Role of Opinion Leaders

Can a Personality Trait Predict Talk About Science?

“…The problem is that locating opinion leaders is not always easy. One of the interesting findings of past opinion leadership literature is that topical interests or knowledge alone cannot fully explain opinion leadership; opinion leaders share various common traits and it may be something beyond interests and simple demographic factors that describe network hubs (Katz & Lazarsfeld, 1955;Schenk & Döbler, 2002). Although past researchers have strived to find traits of opinion leaders beyond topical interests and demographical factors such as socioeconomic status and education, we have not made much progress in this area.…”

“…According to the notion of two-step flow of communication (Lazarsfeld et al, 1968), opinion leaders are the mediators who filter mass media information and relay it to less active sectors of the population. Because of this mediating role of opinion leaders, tapping opinion leaders can be a vital part of proactive diffusion efforts (Schenk & Döbler, 2002).…”

A Two-Step Flow of Influence?

“…Although self-designated survey scales are perhaps the least expensive and the easiest way for organizations to identify opinion leaders, their shortcoming is that respondents may overestimate or underestimate the actual degree of influence they have in their communication network. Other methods of identification, each with their own drawbacks, include key informant analysis where members of a specific social context are asked to rate who they consider to be influential; sociometric analysis where the information giving and seeking connections within a small group is visually mapped; and observational methods that involve an investigator directly recording patterns of communication and behavior among individuals in a small group (see Kim, 2007;Schenk & Döbler, 2002;Weimann, 1994 for reviews). Ideally, it is best to use a combination of methods in order to effectively capture a valid sample of the opinion leaders within a particular communication context or targeted population.…”