{"title":"Opinion Leadership| Mediatized Opinion Leaders: New Patterns of Opinion Leadership in New Media Environments?","authors":"Mike S. Schäfer, Monika Taddicken","doi":"10.5167/UZH-114938","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"The study analyzes which forms opinion leadership takes in contemporary media environments where communication channels have increased and started to permeate interpersonal interaction. Some scholars assume that opinion leadership becomes more important under these conditions, as more media are available to enact it, and that more orientation is needed. Others argue that opinion leadership loses its importance as online media target audiences directly without interaction from opinion leaders. This study demonstrates that opinion leadership still exists in contemporary media environments. Using a cluster analysis of German online survey data, three clusters were identified that resemble communicative roles from earlier studies: Opinion Leaders, Followers, and Inactives. An additional fourth cluster, Mediatized Opinion Leaders, was also found. Individuals in this cluster exhibit the strongest and most diverse use of media and communication channels both for informing themselves and for communicating with followers.","PeriodicalId":51388,"journal":{"name":"International Journal of Communication","volume":"137 1","pages":"22"},"PeriodicalIF":1.9000,"publicationDate":"2015-03-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"46","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"International Journal of Communication","FirstCategoryId":"98","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.5167/UZH-114938","RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 46
Abstract
The study analyzes which forms opinion leadership takes in contemporary media environments where communication channels have increased and started to permeate interpersonal interaction. Some scholars assume that opinion leadership becomes more important under these conditions, as more media are available to enact it, and that more orientation is needed. Others argue that opinion leadership loses its importance as online media target audiences directly without interaction from opinion leaders. This study demonstrates that opinion leadership still exists in contemporary media environments. Using a cluster analysis of German online survey data, three clusters were identified that resemble communicative roles from earlier studies: Opinion Leaders, Followers, and Inactives. An additional fourth cluster, Mediatized Opinion Leaders, was also found. Individuals in this cluster exhibit the strongest and most diverse use of media and communication channels both for informing themselves and for communicating with followers.
期刊介绍：
The International Journal of Communication is an online, multi-media, academic journal that adheres to the highest standards of peer review and engages established and emerging scholars from anywhere in the world. The International Journal of Communication is an interdisciplinary journal that, while centered in communication, is open and welcoming to contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that meet at the crossroads that is communication study. We are interested in scholarship that crosses disciplinary lines and speaks to readers from a range of theoretical and methodological perspectives. In other words, the International Journal of Communication will be a forum for scholars when they address the wider audiences of our many sub-fields and specialties, rather than the location for the narrower conversations more appropriately conducted within more specialized journals. USC Annenberg Press USC Annenberg Press is committed to excellence in communication scholarship, journalism, media research, and application. To advance this goal, we edit and publish prominent scholarly publications that are both innovative and influential, and that chart new courses in their respective fields of study. Annenberg Press is among the first to deliver journal content online free of charge, and devoted to the wide dissemination of its content. Annenberg Press continues to offer scholars and readers a forum that meets the highest standards of peer review and engages established and emerging scholars from anywhere in the world.
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