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Month: January 2013

Internet is a mass media

Among the most fortunate mass communication theories, the Katz & Lazarsfeld’s “Two steps flow of communication” during the 40s described a model where a message  broadcasted by a source is captured by an opinion leader who, because his/her reputation among the society, is able to influence the audience’s behavior. Basing on this research, marketing and public relations payed a lot of attention to choose testimonial to be used in above or below the line campaigns. When in the early 2000s came out the “Web 2.0”, it seemed that model was intended to disappear. Observers and researchers welcomed with a great passion this collaborative circumstance, highlighting the direct access to information, the decentralization of content production, the disintermediation between producer and consumer, the possibility to directly engage with the source. All connected people would have been able to access the information, to elaborate them and share the results. The opinion leader’s role appeared to be definitely got discussed. From opinion leader to hub Actually some changes happened, but only on a exterior level. First of all new personalities came to light. They, missing the web, probably wouldn’t ever get visible. Second, we paid more and more attention to conversation generated on-line and contents themselves became often mainstream. The basic  communication flow, anyway, has been almost unchanged, but transforming the “two-step flow” into “multi-step flow”. A proof of that is the fast growing development of reputation and influence measurement tools such as Klout and Kred. Supposing that every internet user is potentially an hub of a subnet, composed by its contacts, the communication flows from a source is captured by the “hub” that broadcasts to the subnet. Message’s viral degree, that is the message’s ability to be propagated, depends on hub’s reputation and the ability to influence the subnet. From hub to influencer If initially it seems that the individual centrality in message propagation has been improved, recalling the Katz & Lazarsfeld theory, the only true difference relies more on the number of required steps to reach the influence, than on the social dynamics themselves. In the sociologists’ theory, indeed, an opinion leader’s main characteristics were the most access to media, a more literate understanding of media content, the ability to explain and diffuse the content to others. If the access to media problem appears to be solved,  the ability to understand and to broadcast media content is still today the common feature between mass and social media. Katz & Lazardfel, furthermore, concluded their researches highlighting that personal influence (set by interpersonal relationship) is more important than the mass media. Starting from these observations, also today, enterprises plan word-of-mouth marketing, viral marketing campaigns and PR Tatics. Features such as Retweets, Sharing, Comments (that is all the features releated to…

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EXPO 2020 On Line Competition, Dubay gains the best results

Websites and Youtube are the most common tatics. Dubay is the most active on-line with the highest rank on Search Engine, the largest number of fans and follower on Facebook and Twitter. Izmir registered the highest social links popularity and YouTube viewers. Brazil is the worst on-line competitor. How EXPO 2020 candidates are using Internet to promote their candidacy? Generally it seems that web is not a main channel for promoting the candidacy, even if Dubay (UAE) and Izmir (Turkey) are the candidates paying more attention to the tools. Sao Paulo (Brazil) is the candidate paying less attention to internet strategy, limiting its on-line presence to a static website and to an YouTube Channel with promotional videos. Other than YouTube, Facebook and Twitter are the most common tatics used by candidates. Especially Dubay is the most active on social media having the largest number of Fan on Facebook and follower on Twitter and an average of 6.8 tweets per day. About websites, the general official language is English (4 on 5 websites).  Abount language the general approach is to give contents in English, French and national language. Izmir websites, the only one having national as default language, offers contents in 7 different languages, becoming the most international website. With Dubay’s  website, Izmir one is the most complete.  Both, indeed, pay attention to extend the institutional contents about candidacy with ambassador programs. Moreover, Izmir websites offer a form to apply as an Volunteer. Searching the web for “Expo 2020”, anyway, Dubay and Ekaterinburg (Russia) are the top-ranked in search engines. Izmir is the one with highest social link popularity. Considering Social Media, Dubay is again the one gaining the best results on Facebook and Twitter. Brazil has no official Facebook and Twitter accounts. Russia and Thailand are using the social networks, but with low total amount of Fans and Followers. No candidate actually is using LinkedIN with an official group or page.   About Reasearch The reaserch took place between 18th and 19th December and used the following tools: Google Trends, to overview the global search for “Expo 2020” Social Links Popularity Tool, to obtain analyze link popularity among social media Rank Check Tool, to discover the positioning within search engines Hootsuite to find out data on Twitter accounts Direct observation for Facebook and YouTube Accounts Direct observation on websites

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