Influencer classes are all the rage as colleges start taking what they want seriously: ‘One of the most successful courses we’ve done’

Universities are loving and pursuing the idea of ​​content creation as a viable career choice.

The move comes as the influencer marketing industry — now valued at more than $21 billion, according to Statista — has gained popularity among a generation of highly influential young people.

In fact, more than half of Gen Zers believe they can easily make a profitable career out of creating content and promoting digital products, and many universities and experts are starting to take them seriously.

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

The free, four-week online course is offered in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Nearly 10,000 people from over 170 countries have signed up so far.

“It’s unbelievable. It’s probably one of the most successful courses 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 had,” Summer Harlow, associate director of the Knight Center for Journalism in America , told The Hill.

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

Other universities have even gone as far as creating an entire major to influence.

Arkansas Tech University recently began offering a “Bachelor of Arts in Social Media Influence,” 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,” said Kate Stewart, assistant professor of public relations at Jacksonville State University, about influence and content creation.

“I think it’s that idea where communications and marketing is going to give them the strategies and the ethical basis to understand what they’re going to start as influencers. Two, I think the production is necessary because it’s very visual. They’re producing video . They’re editing the videos. They’re putting text on the video,” Stewart explained.

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

ATU is not the first university to offer a degree or courses in this area.

Last year, Southeast University of Technology in Carlow, Ireland announced that it expanded “Digital Hustle,” a summer crash course taught by viral TikTokkers and experts in the field, into a bachelor of arts degree.

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

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

Instead of explaining the execution—like how to post on Instagram or put together a TikTok—he can focus on the theories behind impactful advertising. This is especially important as social media platforms and algorithms are constantly changing – will TikTok be legal next year?

In recent years, there has been increasing demand from employers for content creation and social media knowledge from Gen Z, Hafen noted.

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

But it’s not just about posting strategic and creative TikTok videos, some experts point out – creating content as a career choice can be risky, given the volatile nature of markets and the limited attention span of viewers, for example. .

“As we think about what it would be like to have a degree program focused on influencers, it’s important to recognize the downsides of careers that are often overlooked, and that includes volatility,” Brooke Erin Duffy, an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University, told The Hill.