The two-step flow of information was originally used in 1940 to discuss a voting study called The People’s Choice (Rosenberry & Victor, 2022). It essentially states that “the mass media is not the only one disseminating information to the mass media,” (Sinn, 2020).

These days, people are relying more on who they consider to be thought leaders or trustworthy individuals to receive news. Some of these individuals are well-versed in current events, while others are not well-informed at all. This can be quite dangerous because there are many prominent figures who have gained big platforms that spew harmful and untrue rhetoric across their platforms.

I apply the two-step flow theory in many ways. When I share news, I try to make sure that I share from sources who I deem trustworthy and secondarily, whose ideals match mine. I don’t think that it is always necessary to share news from outlets that match your political and lifestyle views; however, I am definitely biased about which news outlets I choose to read and share articles with. For example, I like sharing news from Kamau Franklin. He is a lawyer and activist, and when he shares news, I can always trace it back to reputable sources. His views also align with many of my views, which makes me more apt to share his articles with my family and friends.

There are some news outlets that also share reputable information, but based on some of their employees’ views and the content shared, I make a conscious effort not to visit or share their articles with my friends and family. This is definitely an example of some of the way my biases play a role in my consumption of mass media platforms.

There are also some news outlets that do a terrible job at verifying sources and sharing factual information to their subscribers/readers. When I gather news, I usually gather it from some of the more mainstream sources that are known to provide verifiable information.I believe that it is important that everyone shares real news to limit the amount of fake news that gets shared. It’s pretty easy to trick people online, so I try to make sure that I consume and share real news.

According to the Pew Research Center, “A majority of political tweets from U.S. adults are retweets.” Many people are sharing second-hand information on social media, and we should all be more diligent about making sure we are sharing factual information.