Newberry College in South Carolina will be offering one of the first undergraduate majors and minors in social media next Fall, and their press release contains a shocking lack of Angry Birds references.
Offered through the Department of Arts and Communications, the Social Media major will be an original interdisciplinary program that would capitalize on the strengths of existing courses in Graphic Design, Communications, Business Administration, Psychology and Statistics. Four innovative courses, created specifically for the Social Media major are also included in the curriculum. [Newberry College]
Do the four social-media-specific courses teach how to spam your friends and family, use noncommittal business jargon, max out credit cards, and pay someone overseas to do your job while you pocket 80% of the client’s money? Because those are the skills you need to thrive in today’s fast-paced economy.
The college says one of their reasons for creating the major is a statistic from Dreamgrow, who claim that social media advertising will grow to $5 billion this year. Dreamgrow also sells “social media marketing research,” so you know there’s no conflict of interest there. Then again, there are legit jobs in social media, and a college offering an interdisciplinary program in it makes sense when there aren’t several other colleges offering the same.
WACH reporter Ivory Hecker went to Newberry College to give us the scoop:
My favorite part of the video? When the guy at 0:42 says, “It pays very well, actually.” Yeah it does. Just look at what he’s Googling while he does his social media thang.
A Honda Odyssey EX minivan manufactured 12 years ago? That’s baller.
Also stay tuned for the part where the reporter seems amazed by QR codes, which were invented eighteen years ago. Oh, local news. Never change.
The best lesson about social media, however, will always be this video from The Onion:
“Social media is the driving force behind the new economy. What does that mean? Nobody knows.”
[Sources: Gizmodo, Forbes, The Fourth Floor Print Shop]