Degrees in influencing

Can you name a field with a lot of very successful people, very rich people, where practically nobody has a degree in the specific field? I’ll name one: content creation. Creating content for social media is big business. Influencer marketing agencies in Europe are booming as brands shift their advertising spend from traditional media to social networks. The whole content creator sector is now expected to roughly double in size by 2027, to be worth nearly half a trillion dollars, according to estimates from Goldman Sachs.

MrBeast AKA Jimmy Donaldson, arguably the biggest youtuber, with an estimated net worth of around $700 million, after teaching a class at Harvard Business School noted “I taught a class at Harvard which is pretty funny because I dropped out of college after only going for two weeks haha,”. Indeed, many mega social media personalities are college drop-outs or have qualifications that bear no relation to their success. This is why it seems odd that colleges in the US are starting to offer degrees in content creation. I came across a tweet (see above) that made me think about this, and I decided to look into it and see whether there are similar courses in the UK. Surprise-surprise, there are plenty!

Several UK universities are offering undergraduate and postgraduate degrees relevant to content development, particularly focusing on social media, influencers, YouTubers, and digital content creation. For example, the University of East London offers a BA (Hons) Social Media course that covers digital content creation, social media strategy, influencer marketing, and audience analytics. This course prepares students for careers in social media management, digital marketing, and content creation. The University for the Creative Arts (UCA), provides a BA (Hons) Digital Marketing & Social Media program. This course focuses on creative content strategies for social media, influencer marketing, and digital branding. It also includes options for industry placements and study abroad programs. Nottingham Trent University (Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies) offers a BA (Hons) Content Creation course, emphasizing practical skills in digital storytelling, video production, content strategy, and social media analytics. The program integrates real-world projects and collaborations with industry professionals to provide hands-on experience. The University of Buckingham offers a BA (Hons) Content Creation, Digital Media, and Journalism (2-year degree), focusing on multimedia content creation, social media, digital journalism, and podcasting. The course includes modules on online content design, video broadcasting, and media strategy, providing a strong foundation for digital media careers.

These programs claim to provide a combination of theoretical knowledge and practical skills in digital content creation, social media management, influencer marketing, and digital storytelling, making them suitable for those looking to enter the dynamic field of digital media and content creation. They aren’t cheap, as most institutions charge the full ￡9k+ fee per year of study. They are easy to get in, however, with most being in clearing in late August, with entry tariffs in the BBC (for A-Levels) category, going down to practically nothing (64 UCAS tariff points for the Nottingham course). For transparency, I need to note that my employer (the University of Westminster) is also offering a BA (Hons) Digital Media and Communication with an entry tariff of BCC (currently in clearing).

A couple of obvious questions are worth asking: 1) Why should below-average performing school-leavers pay to study something that those who succeed in, didn’t study? 2) Who teaches these courses?

The quote "those who can, do; those who can't, teach", from George Bernard Shaw's 'Man and Superman' comes to mind. Mr Beast is busy at Harvard. What are the qualifications of those teaching content creation? What qualifications would one expect? I do not claim that these are subjects without merit. I know about content creation (see my efforts here), but I don’t know enough about these courses. As I have said in other posts, being a successful content developer requires a great deal of skill. One needs to be a video and audio editor, a marketer, a sales-person, a contracts manager, a copy editor, and that is even before we dig into specific niches. If your YouTube channel is on watch repair, you need to know how to repair watches. But is this what these courses are doing? Do they introduce students to the complexity of running an online business and the skills needed, or do they promise to make students with bad grades Mr Beast?

Furthermore, who is going to be impressed by a degree in content creation? Who is going to ask for it? You succeed in social media by being on social media. It is an entrepreneurial journey. Nobody asks for your certified qualifications if they are watching your content and trusting your expertise. Why am I talking about this? There is a great deal of backlash against what the right-wing press calls Mickey Mouse degrees (despite Mickey being one of the most successful brands in history, but anyway). These degrees are being offered in 2024 in the context of the financial collapse of UK higher education, with the (new) government watching from the sidelines. It is legitimate to ask whether degrees offered are serving a purpose and offer value to their audience commensurate to their cost.

In this case, I suspect you can learn more by being a content creator than studying content creation. You can even learn how to run a business by watching YouTube (starting with this playlist).

If you are involved in these courses help prove me wrong in the comments. I really hope there is something more here than just netting kids who want to be big on insta and loading them with debt for the privilege.

@iGlinavos