Salford Uni launches Facebook degree

Author: Gareth Halfacree
Published: 12th June 2009
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Salford Uni launches Facebook degree

The University of Salford believes that individuals equipped with its Masters Degree in Social Media can do real "social good."

In case you hadn't decided on your degree subject yet – or fancied getting another qualification – how's about earning a Masters-level degree in social networking?

According to TechRadar, the University of Salford is set to offer a MA/PgDip in Social Media – unofficially referred to as the “Facebook Degree.”

Aimed – apparently – at the next-generation of public relations and marketing bods who see social networking as a brilliant tool to reach the masses and get the word out, the course offers “a unique insight into how social media can change lives, a thorough grounding in theory augmented with real world projects, [and] excellent links with the media and creative industry.”

According to the university's Course Finder, the course is considered suitable for “creative social entrepreneurs, people who want to make a change to themselves and communities, deploying media for social good.” Lucky students will enjoy “Skills Workshops – covering Video, Audio, and online skills, Defining the Digital, Engaging the Community, and Creative working” modules – whatever they might be.

Once the Facebook degree is complete, alumni will leave “equipped to work in a variety of institutions engaging with social media[, including] the traditional broadcasters who are gradually entering the field as well as new community and third sector organisations who need social media to work for them and their clients.”

Course leader Professor Ben Light believes that the course can offer “a massive potential [to] bring communities together, whether they're geographical or online” and that social media “can be a way of doing social good and by giving students the skills and experience to implement effective technology and strategies, we hope they'll be able to make a difference.”

Are you convinced at the social good that a Masters Degree-equipped individual can offer, or does the whole idea seem a trifle ridiculous? Share your thoughts over in the forums.
Quote Cupboard 12th June 2009, 11:44
I don't know whether to laugh or cry...
A Twitter thesis would have to be very short, or in a lot of instalments!
Quote Veles 12th June 2009, 12:00
Well it's not quite as bad as the title made it out to be, I've heard of worse degrees. However, there's going to be nowhere near enough to fill a 3 year course (but then there rarely is, most degrees are full of padding).
Quote Omnituens 12th June 2009, 12:12
I attended that uni - hated my course.
Quote Grimloon 12th June 2009, 12:20
They aren't the first to offer it, Birmingham City University (formerly UCE - allegedly the grades you needed to get a place) announced this at the end of last month. It is a shame to see it from Salford though as they used to be very good for science and engineering (admittedly, it has been 15 years since I was there).
Quote BlackMage23 12th June 2009, 12:46
Is it April?
Quote SMIFFYDUDE 12th June 2009, 16:29
Slightly off topic, but does Salford have a city centre? I'm not sure it does.
Quote Rob2109 12th June 2009, 16:33
I'm currently on a games programming degree and in the first year had to undertake "Entertainment Computing" for a whole damn year. It sounds pretty similar to the Social Degree and was a complete waste of time. On the bright side i know all about Twitter and Facebook wit f***ing woo thats going to help.
Rant over.
Quote ry@n 12th June 2009, 16:35
Not as bad as the David Beckham degree :D
Quote delriogw 13th June 2009, 15:31
could be worse.

when i was looking into degrees, there was one for 'wine tasting'.

in retrospect that actually isn't as stupid as it seemed at the time, after all they have to learn their craft somewhere, but the idea of a degree for it just seemed ludicrous
Quote ZERO <ibis> 14th June 2009, 04:03
Now in Ch7 we will learn how to program spam bots to advertise anything everywhere from irc to facebook...
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