Arizona State University (ASU) is one of the first universities to leverage the growing creator economy, and interest in content creation as a career, with its new Bachelor of Arts in Content Creation.
The academic program says prospective students will “turn [their] creativity into content that connects with audiences” and “master the art and science of digital influence” within the “rapidly evolving creator economy”.
Modules include strategic communications, ethics and media law, entrepreneurship and freelance work, and *lots* of content creation skills courses.
Is it at all surprising to hear? Not really — it was inevitable! In the university’s press release, it states the new course, among several in the law, media and journalism faculties, has been added to “anticipate” trends rather than chase demand.
While clearly this is likely to succeed (especially in a market like the USA), is content creation better self-taught than in a lecture hall? The case studies may be plentiful (where would they even begin?), but the creator economy to date has largely been built on people just having a crack and seeing where it takes them. One of the ironies of this course (I’m sure there is more) is that, for the most part, social media platforms support authenticity and grassroots creation over highly polished curation.
In fact, case in point: @ellielouiseellis on TikTok has blown up with millions of views and already countless brand gifts simply just from posting ‘get ready with me’ videos. She may not want to be a content creator but the option is right there for her to jump on if she does. Read more on this case study here.
Could ASU’s investment in a content creation major backfire? Social media is likely to stay in our lives forever, or at least a very long time, in some capacity. But despite the creator and influencer economy growing, there has been a clear shift away from blatant influencing to more human-to-human connection that feels genuine, without being sold to in such an obvious way.
Additionally, there is also the sentiment of a potential “mass exodus” from social media, growing from younger generations’ attitudes towards screen times, the politics involved with social media (i.e. all the social media CEOs buddying up with Donald Trump), and existential themes around how we’re truly meant to spend our time.
There seems to be a collective knowledge more so than ever that these algorithms have been devised to dumb us down and keep us “obedient”, with little to no accountability from the app creators about the effects they’re having on society. But hey, they’ve got their millions and billions.
I’m sure ASU’s Content Creation unit is a lot better than the ‘Social Media’ minor I undertook in Australia in 2017. Despite social media being around for years by that point, 2017 was the first year the minor was an option. I hope it’s been improved somewhat as there really wasn’t much to do with social media, and more on the ‘history of media’ and technology. None of this ‘how to be an influencer’ for me!
And one final thought: imagine all the vlogging at the graduation ceremony.
Written by Sophie, Account Manager
