Even though functional theory debuted some fifty years ago, and much of the original thinking surrounding the theory may have evolved into newer and more modern schools of thought, it is interesting to note how the initial work of Katz, Lazarsfeld, and their contemporaries is still timely today.
Katz and Lazarsfeld were interested in the flow of information from a message source through the mass media to its intended (or unintended) audience. The researchers discovered that much of the information transmitted through the mass media is filtered by opinion leaders that function as intermediaries between the message source and the general public. Moreover, functional theorists were interested in group infrastructure as it related to the transmission of messages and information to the individuals within the particular group. What is interesting about these fifty year old observations is that one can trace the recent trend of target and niche marketing back to the original findings of the functional theorists.
By looking at the work of Katz and Lazarsfeld and their contemporaries we can see how target and niche marketing came into being. The functionalists broke mass audiences down into subgroups who tend to act (and use media) in similar ways, and for similar needs. By applying this view of human behavior to modern society, it is easy to see why advertisers and marketers select specific audiences and communication methods to achieve their goals and sell their products. Imagine how difficult it would be to market a product to an entire national or global population at once. Using the initial, pre-functional theory Hypodermic Needle approach would compel one to do just this. We all know quite well that broadcasting a message to everyone, everywhere, will probably not elicit the consumer response that marketers are hoping for. And the would be staggering.
Today it is the goal of media planners (and more recently account planners) to find creative insights into the way consumers behave, and build and advertising and marketing strategies around those insights. One could look at early functional theory as a means of getting those insights. For example, an account planner must consider how a potential customer perceives a particular product, or product category, or social message, and decide upon the best means by which to effectively touch that consumer. In looking at previous functional studies, or commissioning a new one, the account planner can understand how the consumer gets his or her information, and use communication methods (a la De Fleur) to create an effective message that is socially acceptable to the consumer group in question.
Media planners must do the same. In using functionalist methods and thought, a media planner can gain insight as to which key people they must reach (like opinion leaders) to ensure that the specific target audience receives the intended message from the advertising or marketing source. By determining which members of a community, or social group, influence the flow and actions of that group as a whole, media planners can make savvy media buys that hit the bullseye time and time again.
Today advertisers and marketers are faced with more potential sources of information that Katz, Lazarsfeld, and their colleagues could have ever imagined. In the face of millions of choices, from the internet to digital satellite television and thousands of specialty magazines, an advertiser must make sense of it all, and in a hurry. In many ways, an individual can have instant informational gratification if he or she so chooses, and so perhaps the opinion leader is beginning to fade out of the picture ever so slightly. Therefore today it is more important than ever to understand where audiences get their news and information, and how they form their opinions. Using the functional theory of communication could be very useful, then, in determining consumer behavior as a collection of group, or segment, behavior.
These thoughts are merely examples of how functional theory could be applied to modern society and modern forms of communication. Clearly this is a topic for further study, and most definitely warrants more in-depth and lengthy writings than this site could ever provide. However, it is my hope that this site can serve as an informational springboard to other sources of information on the subject.
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