Opinion Leaders

I would love to say that I am an opinion leader, but the sad truth is I am totally a follower leaching off the media experiences of others. While sitting in class trying to determine which category I fell into (follower or leader), I did a quick run through of my media intake for the last few months or so. I could not think of a single original media idea I had, and then it occurred to me that I am in a very large group. Where did the people that recommended the media to me get their idea to take in that particular text? Professors maybe, pastors, friends, coworkers--who knows? But where did those people get the idea--television? Internet blogs? I would venture a guess that 90% of us are merely followers. This is not to say that some of us aren't higher up on the media intake chain, but we are still followers. If this is true, then those people at the top of the chain are incredibly powerful. Media shapes our opinion about relationships, politics, normalcy and all sorts of other topics and the people who get to chose what we read and view about such topics have the potential to exercise great influence over society.