Public interest communication can activate six spheres of influence that changemakers can use to accomplish their goals. We explore each sphere and the power that each holds.
Policy: The formal laws, regulations or official governing systems of an organization or social group. It’s a sphere that is often activated, but as we know, it’s hard to govern hearts and minds.
Media: Traditional news outlets and social media platforms, where conversations on issues are happening. News coverage is associated with agenda-setting theory and perpetuates perspectives of norms.
Communities of influence: Communities of influence are the people who follow or engage in a social issue. They would include associations, trade groups, social influencers and aspirational figures specific to the issue.
The Market: Businesses can advance or hinder behaviors and norms, as do consumers’ interactions with them. And economic factors can heavily influence decisions, particularly if there are perceptions of threat or scarcity.
Activism: Collective action by an organized group supporting or fighting a specific policy or behaviors
Social Norms: Moral norms describe what an identity group sees as right and wrong, social norms are our perceptions of what people like us do, and transitional norms describe emerging behaviors.
