University of Florida Social Media Degree Online – Who Knew?

The University of Florida, accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, now offers an ‘online’Social Media masters degree.  This is part of their school of journalism.  According to their online materials –

To teach today’s professionals how they can employ social media, the University of Florida has developed the first-of-its-kind online Master of Arts in Mass Communication with a specialization in Social Media. Specifically focused on addressing the growing pervasiveness of social media throughout our global society, it’s an advanced degree that examines the impact of social media and explains how it can be used to influence the future of communication, marketing, journalism, politics, entertainment, public relations, and more.

 

Marketing (Social and Other) As Taught by American Universities

The question of course is how much one can (or should) learn in a classroom vs. learning by doing. Both are important, and clearly one of the challenges of today’s educational system is that marketing as taught by 99% of American universities is pointlessly focused on abstractions and esoterica, rather than the real-world practical knowledge one needs on how to market in Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and the gang. Hopefully this will be a practical, new addition to the field of marketing. Good luck, University of Florida!