{"id":196,"date":"2023-02-27T11:58:46","date_gmt":"2023-02-27T11:58:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/?p=196"},"modified":"2023-02-27T11:58:46","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T11:58:46","slug":"social-media-masters-programs-they-exist-and-it-makes-no-sense","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bursucretleri.com\/blog\/social-media-masters-programs-they-exist-and-it-makes-no-sense\/","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Masters Programs: They Exist \u2026 And It Makes No Sense"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a graduate of the University of Florida, it pains me to share that my University is, in fact, offering a social media masters program. The WSJ was correct to\u00a0write up this story\u00a0with a question:\u00a0Social-Media Schooling Is on the Rise \u2013 But Is It Necessary?\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Keep in mind this is the same University that so misunderstood the growth and economic opportunity of technology for young people they previously announced they were planning\u00a0to significantly cut\u00a0their (renowned) Computer Science program. Thankfully, common sense prevailed and they eventually\u00a0announced\u00a0a plan to save the college.<\/p>\n

Back to the social media masters degree. There are so many questions to ask here. Is the University admitting their existing marketing, PR, communications and business classes haven\u2019t kept up with the times? After all, social is\u00a0just a layer<\/em>\u00a0within all of this.<\/p>\n

Does the University offer email marketing classes? What about SEM? Those industries have larger direct economic impact to businesses than social (and actually still require more specialized skill sets \u2013\u00a0everyone<\/em>\u00a0should get social by now,\u00a0it isn\u2019t new). It is strange social gets singled out.<\/p>\n

\n

Masters Programs at UF<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Also, why so tactical? Why isn\u2019t this University (and others) actually offering a digital masters degree that encompass everything agencies and brands are thirsting for in talent? It would cover\u00a0search\u00a0and<\/em>\u00a0social to design \/ development, user acquisition, analytics, lead nurturing, mobile app ecosystems, email, project management, etc? This would legitimately prepare kids for the future. Anyone in the digital marketing industry who gets pigeon-holed to one tactic or channel is severely limiting their options and future. It is not a 1 or 2 thing world, it\u2019s a 15 or 20 thing world.\u00a0Leave specialization to the insects. And yes\u00a0I\u2019m aware this is the communications college, something else sad is I ventured over to the business school at UF and the word \u201cdigital\u201d doesn\u2019t appear in the college of marketing\u2019s\u00a0page\u00a0a single time. The communications college has a chance to own this and do things right \u2013 hopefully we can push them in the right direction.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not \u00a0going to go through the story details \u00a0i.e. I think it\u2019s sad they are focusing on specific sites in social instead of larger strategic efforts like building\u00a0viral loops, organic \/\u00a0platform\u00a0agnostic<\/em>\u00a0growth, community building across channels and monetization. We\u2019ll leave that for another day.<\/p>\n

What I will say once again: in my experiences building teams both on the agency and brand side, with consumer and B2B products, I\u2019ve consistently found for social media that pedigree and\u00a0certifications\u00a0are not very useful and experience and\u00a0independent learning\u00a0everything. That people have\u00a0gone through the process\u00a0themselves is\u00a0really<\/em>\u00a0what matters. These folk have always been A-list talent on my teams and able to come in and deftly execute \/ generate results from the start.<\/p>\n

A\u00a0college degree is hardly a guarantee. And a social media degree (even masters) is even more limiting.\u00a0Social media is not new\u00a0and there are\u00a0plenty<\/em>\u00a0of people skilled in it. That\u2019s not where the magic in social is anyway. It\u2019s about having true depth and breadth of knowledge and experience in a category. Social simply amplifies your natural success, connections and community. The meta blogging or meta Internet skill days are over (or coming to an abrupt end). It\u2019s one part of a much larger mix that is a requisite for being a part of the information economy. Which is all of us.<\/p>\n

And, for your moment of zen, I was curious what the course Tutor was up to in social as his name was mentioned in the story. I took a look at his Twitter account and he\u2019s ReTweeting infantile \/ spam\u00a0accounts, such as:<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Even if we wanted to take the offering seriously, it\u2019s difficult when the people involved in the course are actually part of the\u00a0social spam\u00a0circus. The bottom line is, as we have seen in the real world time and time again:\u00a0social media needs mature talent. That\u2019s not to say you shouldn\u2019t have fun (you definitely should). But a little tact goes a long way, especially when you realize\u00a0you are an extension\u00a0of the brand you work for.\u00a0You are what you share, and whether you think the above is appropriate, I was left turned off and would personally not bring someone like this on to one of my teams. The risk is far too high.<\/p>\n

To date I have not been impressed with the work traditional education institutions have done for the communications industry.\u00a0I do hope they work to improve things, as they\u2019re bringing the next wave of talent into the workforce who we will be leading in the near future.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As a graduate of the University of Florida, it pains me to share that my University is, in fact, offering … <\/p>\n

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