You know how you spend way too many hours tweaking a video edit, analyzing your post analytics, and dreaming of making it go viral with the intention of landing a huge endorsement? That hard work is about to get a lot easier because higher education has some huge news for you.
Beginning this fall, Arizona State University (ASU) is launching an official degree program in Content Creation. Housed inside ASU’s prestigious Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, the brand-new major is custom-tailored for anyone dreaming of building an audience and making a real career in the booming creator economy.
What you actually learn in “influencer school”
Now, before you roll your eyes and think this is just a four-year course on how to do viral dance trends, think again. The team at ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication is taking the creator economy seriously. Considering it’s a billion-dollar industry, it makes total sense.
ASU’s content creation program is designed as a deep dive into the business, strategy, and tech behind modern digital media.
According to the program description, students will get hands-on experience in:
- Production Skills: Video editing, podcasting, multi-platform content planning, and storytelling that actually keeps people’s attention past the three-second mark.
- Brand & Strategy: Personal branding, global marketing perspectives, and audience engagement. And because getting paid is the ultimate goal, the program will also teach contract negotiations.
- Business & Analytics: Measuring post performance, testing content strategies, and learning how to pitch brands and monetize platforms.
- Ethics & Digital Culture: Navigating the Wild West of the internet responsibly, managing digital wellness, and avoiding one of creators’ biggest pitfalls: burnout!
Plus, students won’t just stay stuck in a classroom. The degree promises real-world experience through hands-on opportunities like working out of ASU’s Los Angeles Content Studio, completing media internships, taking on projects sponsored by brands, and even participating in content creation trips abroad.
As Jessica Pucci, senior associate dean at the Cronkite School, explained, graduates won’t just leave with a piece of paper—they’ll leave with demonstrable audience growth.
“I don’t know any content creator who wouldn’t benefit from having world-class faculty whose sole mission is to help you and support your growth as a creator,” Pucci said. “They will have demonstrable audience growth. They will have a platform of their choice with real content and real followers and a real audience behind them.”
Why journalism schools are embracing influencers
While “influencer” might sound like an nontraditional major for a journalism school, university leaders say it’s a natural evolution of how media works today.
Cronkite School Dean Battinto Batts Jr. pointed out that journalists and influencers actually rely on the exact same foundation: trust.
“The success of a journalist is very much dependent upon accuracy, facts, trust, accountability, connection to audience. That’s the same thing that’s at play here,” Batts explained.
The program aims to teach creators how to build that trust while navigating the business mechanics of personal branding, social channels, and client work.
According to Batts, graduates of the major will learn how to build their own personal brands, websites, social media feeds, and YouTube channels. They will also learn how to do all these things for their clients.
The program prepares students for roles ranging from digital influencers and podcasters to brand storytellers and social media managers.
Not the first of its kind
While this may be the first time you are hearing about an influencer school, ASU isn’t the only institution recognizing the creator economy. Schools across the country like Syracuse University, which recently opened its Center for the Creator Economy, are already on the bandwagon.
Graceland University in Iowa also offers an interdisciplinary Bachelor of Arts in Digital Content Creation that covers video, podcasting, social media, graphic design, and web content.
Another higher education institution that’s already on the trend is Grand Canyon University in Arizona. The school offers a dedicated degree in social media focused on balancing practical digital skills with employer expectations.
What people are saying
Reactions are coming in, and as you would expect with this kind of news, opinions are divided. While many believe it is a force for good, others just don’t see the use.
The rave reviews
Local creator Anna Elizabeth praised the major, noting that figuring out editing, pitch decks, PR, and brand outreach on your own can be an uphill battle without formal guidance.
“There’s editing, there’s marketing strategies of it. There’s like, ‘How do I get PR? How do I get brands to notice me?’” Elizabeth said. “It’s a little bit difficult to understand that portion if you haven’t done it for a long time.”
Elizabeth insisted that the program would have made things much easier for her at the beginning.
The pushback: is an influencer degree worth it?
Not everyone is ready to hand out diplomas for viral videos. Those people are raising some serious concerns. One skeptic, ASU Professor Owen Anderson, questioned the long-term value of such a degree.
Anderson raised doubts on the long-term viability of the program by asking if the major will stand up to federal rules requiring higher education degrees to reliably boost a graduate’s earning potential compared to non-degree holders.
Some even questioned whether a four-year degree is needed for skills that many creators and influencers taught themselves online.
“No offense but I learned how to do it in my bedroom at 14… YouTube is also free… ppl should spend money on tuition for something a bit harder to learn,” one Instagram user wrote.
Some even argued that the school wants to financially benefit from a trend without providing tangible value.
Love it or hate it, content creation just went mainstream
It doesn’t matter where you stand on this and what opinions you have on the influencer degree. One thing we can all agree on is that the creator economy is now a multi-billion-dollar industry, and academia is paying attention.
For students who want to turn making videos into a legitimate, full-time business, getting a college degree in content creation might just be the ultimate launchpad.
Sources: New York Post, AZ Family, KJZZ Phoenix