Influencer classes are all the rage as colleges start to take wannabes seriously: ‘One of the most successful courses we’ve done’

Universities are liking and following the idea of content creation as a viable career choice.

The move comes as the influencer marketing industry — now valued at more than $21 billion, according to Statista — has become popular among a generation of heavily influenced young people.

In fact, more than half of Gen Zers believe they could easily make a lucrative career out of content creation and digital product pushing and many universities and experts are beginning to take them seriously.

The University of Texas has even partnered with the United Nations to create a class to teach influencers how to handle misinformation. 

The free, online four-week course, is being offered in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French. Nearly 10,000 people from 170-plus countries have enrolled so far.

“It’s incredible. It’s probably one of the most successful courses that we’ve done in terms of the number of participants, and then also in terms of engagement for the very first live session that we had,” Summer Harlow, the associate director of the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas, told The Hill.

The UN-backed partnership came together as experts “kept seeing these different voices having influence on the news,” and wanted to “understand how digital content creators were changing the journalism field.” 

Other universities have even gone as far as creating an entire major for influencing.

Arkansas Tech University recently began offering a “Bachelor of Arts in Social Media Influencing,” which incorporates classes in film production, journalism and public relations. 

“I think it’s communication, I think it’s production and I think it’s business,” Kate Stewart, assistant professor of public relations at Jacksonville State University, said of influencing and content creation.

“I think it’s that idea where communication and marketing is going to give them the strategies and the ethical grounding to understand what they’re about to embark on as an influencer. Two, I think production is needed because it’s highly visual. They’re producing videos. They’re editing videos. They’re putting text on video. There’s a production value,” Stewart explained.

“And then, lastly, business, they have to understand the business behind the management companies, the agencies, the brands, the other media companies that they’re working with to be able to have the background to be successful.” 

ATU isn’t the first university to offer a degree or courses in the field.

Last year, the South East Technological University in Carlow, Ireland announced it expanded its “Digital Hustle,” a summer crash course taught by viral TikTokkers and field experts, into a bachelor of the arts degree.

Other universities including the University of Alabama, USC, Cornell, Duke, Chapman and Columbia offer courses in influencer strategy, business and communications.

“One thing that’s really great about teaching college classes is that I’m teaching digital natives — they live and breathe this stuff,” Tom Hafen, professor of brand management in the digital age at Columbia University, previously told The Post.

Rather than explaining execution — like how to post on Instagram or piece together a TikTok — he can focus on the theories behind influencer advertising. This is especially pertinent as social media platforms and algorithms constantly change — will TikTok even be legal next year?

IIn recent years, there has been increased demand from employers for content creation and social media savvy from Gen Z, Hafen pointed out.

“So it’s absolutely critical, particularly for entrepreneurs, but big companies are using it more and more,” he explained.

But it’s not just about posting strategic and creative TikTok videos, some experts point out — content creation as a career choice can be a risky one, given the fickle nature of markets and viewers limited attention spans, for example.

“As we think about what it would be like to have a degree program focused on influencers, it’s important that there is recognition of the often overlooked downsides of the career, and that includes the volatility,” Brooke Erin Duffy, an associate professor in the Department of Communication at Cornell University, told The Hill.