Influencer classes are all the rage as colleges start to take wannabes seriously

Universities are liking and pursuing the idea of ​​content creation as a viable career option.

The move comes as the influencer marketing industry – now worth more than $21 billion according to Statista – has become popular among a generation of highly impressionable youth.

In fact, More than half of Gen Zers They believe that they can easily make a lucrative career in content creation and digital product pushing and many universities and experts have started taking them seriously.

The University of Texas has also partnered with the United Nations to create a class to teach influencers how to combat misinformation.

The free, online four-week course is being offered in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Nearly 10,000 people from more than 170 countries have enrolled so far.

“This is unbelievable. “This is probably one of the most successful courses that we’ve done in terms of the number of participants, and then also in terms of engagement for the first live session that we’ve done,” said Summer Harlow, associate director of the Knight Center for. Journalism in America, told The Hill.

The UN-backed partnership came together because experts “continued to see these different voices impacting news,” and “wanted to understand how digital content creators are changing the journalism field.”

Other universities have even gone so far as to create an entire subject just to impress.

Arkansas Tech University recently began offering a “Bachelor of Arts in Social Media Influencing”, which includes classes in film production, journalism and public relations.

“I think it’s communication, I think it’s production and I think it’s business,” Kate Stewart, assistant professor of public relations at Jacksonville State University, said of influencing and content creation.

“I think it’s this idea where communications and marketing will give them strategies and an ethical foundation to understand what they’re about to embark on as an influencer. Two, I think the production needs that because it’s so visual. They are making videos. They are editing the video. They are putting text on the video. It has a production value,” Stewart explained.

“And then, finally, the business, they have to understand the business behind the management companies, agencies, brands, other media companies that they’re working with to create the background to be successful.”

ATU is not the first university to offer a degree or course in this field.

last year, South East Technological University in Carlow, Ireland announced It expanded its “Digital Hustle”, a summer crash course taught by viral TikTokers and field experts, into a Bachelor of Arts degree.

Other universities, including the University of Alabama, USC, Cornell, Duke, Chapman, and Columbia, offer courses in influencer strategy, business, and communications.

Tom Hafen, professor of brand management in the digital age at Columbia University, previously told The Post, “One thing that’s really great about teaching college classes is that I’m teaching digital natives — They live and breathe this thing.”

Instead of explaining the execution — like how to post on Instagram or how to piece together a TikTok — he can focus on the principles behind influencer advertising. This is especially relevant as social media platforms and algorithms constantly change – Will TikTok also become legal next year?

In recent years, there has been Increased demand from employers From Gen Z to content creation and social media savvy, Hafen pointed out.

“So it’s absolutely important, especially for entrepreneurs, but larger companies are using it more and more,” he explained.

But it’s not just about posting strategic and creative TikTok videos, some experts say – for example, content creation as a career option can be risky due to the volatile nature of markets and limited audience attention spans. .

“As we think about what a degree program focused on influencers would look like, it is important to recognize the often overlooked negative aspects of careers, and that includes instability,” says Brooke Erin Duffy, an associate professor at Cornell University. The communications department told The Hill.