People with big aspirations used to think about going to college to become a pilot, astronaut, or architect, but now some higher education classes are teaching students to become a new dream profession: influencers.
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According to a recent report from The Hill, some colleges are starting to offer courses, and even degrees, on how to become a content creator.
The courses aren’t being offered at no-name schools and universities either, as classes like Social Media Storytelling have popped up at the University of Alabama and more.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that top schools teaching influencer classes also include Mississippi State University and the University of Texas at San Antonio, which has a bachelor’s degree in Digital Media Influence.
Jessica Maddox, who teaches one of these courses at the University of Alabama, shared with The Hill that teaching the skills to become an influencer is worth the effort.
“If people are serious about wanting to do a career in influencing or online content creation, they have to know that there is more to it,” Maddox said.
“And, yes, a lot of people have been incredibly successful, kind of figuring it out as they go, working hard, building a channel, paying attention to their analytics, buying the equipment, and learning, but I think we, as college professors like myself, we would be remiss if we did not treat this as a skill our students need going out into the world,” Maddox added.
When it comes to what students are learning, several topics come up in the courses, including learning to deal with online misinformation, which the University of Texas teaches in partnership with UNESCO.
The class is a free, 4-week course that’s available in multiple languages. Already, more than 10,000 influencer students across the globe have enrolled in it.
“It’s incredible,” Summer Harlow, an associate director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the university, shared about the course. “It’s 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 very first live session that we had.”
Other topics covered in these courses include education on potential legal and financial troubles students could run into online.
While some might scoff at the prospects of going to school to become an influencer, the Reporter reported that the creator economy is valued at an estimated $250 billion, a figure that could double within the next few years.
On top of that, more than half of Gen Z aspires to become an influencer, while another 54% of Americans ages 18 to 60 said they would quit their jobs if they made it by making content online, according to the Reporter.
With several polls showing that Gen Z is looking to make their mark in different ways than their parents did, a degree in being an influencer may not be so far-fetched.
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