Put down your selfie stick and check this out. You really really need to do it because I'm influencing you. Socially. On the internet. So go ahead, click the link https://www.morningbrew.com/daily/stories/2019/10/13/can-earn-degree-social-media-influencing
And they say the kids these days are destroying industries. Just look, creating brand new academic disciplines!
First of all, I'm not totally sure that this isn't a joke. But I'll play the skeptic assuming it's real. First of all, degrees like this are created for the PARENTS who want their kid in "college" but can't get them motivated to study. Voila! If a parent pays tuition, it makes everything feel very legitimate. (leaving out the fact that this not an accredited program or university as far as I can tell) I feel like this is in the same category as the Entrepreneurship degree - which is to say: the decision to pursue it is probably a sign that you've not got the chops to then be successful in the field. A professor of social media without 100k subs is useless and the textbook he's using was outdated before it ever got published. You can probably (and students probably do) study it as an exercise in anthropology, or maybe even behavioral psychology, certainly marketing - but to think that a college class will help you advance your own youtube channel and become a zillionaire? If your professor had the ability to get you there, he would be there - not teaching. <sigh>
Or, as a friend who used to teach finance said, "If your trading model works, you don't need tenure." Still, some people really do go into education because they want to help other people. So there's that.
