Two Step Flow Theory
Kony 2012
Kony 2012 is a 30-minute documentary that aims to shine a spotlight on central African militia leader Joseph Kony. “Celebrities, athletes and billionaires have a loud voice and what they talk about spreads instantly,” filmmaker Jason Russell says in the video. Jason Russell was the catalyst for the spread of the message, gaining ‘opinion leaders’, who are celebrities, which therefore gets the message to the mass audience. The stars are Ben Affleck, Justin Bieber, Bono, Stephen Colbert, George Clooney, Ellen DeGeneres, Jay-Z, Angelina Jolie, Lady Gaga, Rush Limbaugh, Rihanna, Bill O’Reilly, Ryan Seacrest, Taylor Swift, Tim Tebow, Rick Warren, Oprah Winfrey, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg. Through these opinion leaders, the video had made its way to 102 million views on YouTube, successfully portraying its message to a large audience.
Black Lives Matter
Black Lives Matter is a political and social movement advocating for non-violent civil disobedience in protest against incidents of police brutality and all racially motivated violence against black people. After particular recent events in America of police brutality, the movement hit a high point throughout the world. The cause of this though grasped from the Two Step Flow Theory, with a very large portion of celebrities using social media platforms to raise awareness for the issue, and therefore causing the large majority of the public throughout the world taking action themselves. An example of such was the ‘#blackedouttuesday’ trend, which originally caught the public eye by celebrities.
