An opinion is the appreciation or estimate that an individual forms about another subject or about some issue. The idea of public , on the other hand, can refer to the group of people who make up a community.
Starting from these concepts, we can move forward with the definition of public opinion . This is the name given to the generalized assessment at a social level that exists regarding certain issues .
Public opinion, in this way, is created from widespread coincidences among the majority of people. Multiple factors influence its development, with the influence of the media being especially relevant.
Public opinion can be understood as a tendency of society . When it is stated that "public opinion expresses..." or that "public opinion thinks..." , it is alluding to the fact that a majority sector of a society agrees on something about a specific issue.
Suppose a journalist states that "public opinion believes that the president was wrong" when making an announcement. This communicator, whether resorting to surveys or his own perception, maintains that the majority of citizens consider that the president acted wrongly. Of course, this statement could be refuted by saying that, in reality, public opinion does not reflect that position: there is no exact, precise and infallible measurement of what a large social group thinks, especially because there is no homogeneity in its members.
It should be noted that public opinion can be expressed through protests , strikes and marches . In recent years, social networks have also become an important vehicle for the expression of public opinion.
This new platform, social networks, has brought us a series of advantages and disadvantages that are largely reflected in the process of conception and dissemination of public opinion. Among the advantages is immediacy , especially when we need to make an important matter visible: it is enough to tell our contacts that our house has been repossessed so that in a few minutes many more people will know; In the best case, someone will help us.
Of course, this has become a double-edged sword, because it is not always easy to discern good from evil, justice from injustice, much less if we are not given the time necessary to process the information before making a judgment. The immediacy of social networks is also observed in this aspect: we receive news and the opinion that we are expected to have, all immediately and in a very timely package. If we decide to speak out against public opinion, we must prepare to face an angry mob .
This does not mean that in the past the massive nature of ideas did not matter: it has always been difficult to go against the majority. However, today we have the possibility of doing so publicly from the comfort of our phone, wherever we are, touching on the most delicate topics without changing the process: we write what we think about abortion, racism , the new government team or housing prices, and we click "publish."
As soon as we do this, all those individuals who have subscribed to public opinion, that is, who have accepted those prefabricated ideas that were included in some written message from someone with a certain influence on social networks, will come at us for fear that we will destroy their structure and force them to think for themselves. Public opinion, in other words, is also a synonym for “safe place” or “fortress,” which brings together thousands and millions of people, even if only for a time.