Influencers are the Answer to Almost Everything On Social Media
Remember boarding a flight and stopping to get a few style magazines to keep you occupied onboard the jet? What about when you were younger and monthly the InStyle, Seventeen and Glamour magazine arrived in your mailbox? Women and teenagers were excited to spend time looking at the photos of what was the trend, reading articles on where to get the right jeans for one’s body and turning the pages to fill the desire for more. Welcome to 2022, where Instagram and influencers are now the key for your fashion inspiration, proving the two step flow theory remains a prominent form of communication despite the changing media landscaping.
Studies now suggest the way information moves is social media is not too different from that on traditional media. Fashion was once driven by big magazine companies telling the public what to buy in order to stay trendy this season. Today moms across the world instead go to Instagram to spot new trends in an effort to avoid the dreaded uncool mom look. In the media world, this is referred to as the two step flow. Take the example of crop tops, should mom’s really wear this or is it just for teenagers? Harpers Bazar (mass media) wrote an article titled, 10 Grown Up Ways to Wear a Cropped Top And Not Feel Naked where they suggested wearing it with a denim on denim combination.
For many women though (including myself), this isn’t my style and we question the article’s headline (and why we wasted our money on purchasing this magazine). So, we turn to someone we trust more… style influencers like Miamiamine. These opinion leaders already are a fashion match with their followers. Thus, when women see an image on them, we trust their fashion sense way more then Harpers Bazar or mass media (and it’s free on social media platforms).
The mass produced message from a magazine conglomerate reached in 1 month nearly 6 million in 2015. No matter how many people opened the magazine, their fashion news is not relatable for some, and thus casts doubt on their expertise. The influencer who has a smaller reach at 1.1 million followers, is more relatable, trusted and thought of as an expert from those in their follower fan base. In fact, research even backs up this thought with their finding that opinions are more likely to be formed in a two-step flow process like those opinions shared on social media as opposed to listening to mass media in the hypodermic needle theory.
Many are putting down the magazines and turning to social media influencers instead as a source of fashion information. Media companies may want to change course and have a few influencers take over their IG account on a regular basis. It could possibly transfer trust back into those big media companies that the trusted influencer now represents. Can the two-step flow theory turn into the hypodermic needle?
