How Sociologist Paul F. Lazarsfeld Became an Influencer : (80 Years of Opinion Leader Research)

With the rise and ongoing success of influencers, who reach millions of followers via social media platforms with user-generated contents, the concept of opinion leadership, formulated 1944 by Paul F. Lazarsfeld, Bernard Berelson, and Hazel Gaudet, is receiving renewed attention. Today, influencers are understood to be "digital opinion leaders" who do not exert their influence through interpersonal communication, but rather through parasocial relationships mediated by media. The success of influencer marketing also led to a professionalization of opinion leadership, although, according to Lazarsfeld, it was precisely the non-professional communicators who became "opinion leaders." This article stretches the bow from Lazarsfeld‘s concept to today‘s influencers. The authors describe the phenomenon of influencers and provide an overview of the current state of research on their theoretical location of the concepts of opinion leadership and parasocial (i.e., one-sided, non-reciprocal) communication. Finally, they identify important research questions related to Lazarsfeld‘s research experiences.