Academic Blog

Social media has an all-consuming relationship with it's users. Social media has transitioned into a hobby being used solely for social purposes, into being heavily relied on for classes and for future careers. Social media impacts young people who are enrolled in academia. Social media sites, like Facebook, are now used as an interactive communicative resource for students and professors to swap and exchange information quickly and efficiently. Most courses now incorporate social media websites like Facebook and Twitter as class requirements, especially classes focused solely on communication. 
However, there should be more classes focused specifically on social media. These courses should not only be targeted just for communication majors, but should also be offered for business and marketing courses. The use of social media should be offered as general education course because of its permanence and relevance in almost every young person's life. Even if some people are reluctant to join social media sites like Instagram, almost every young professional has a Linkeden, which is used as a networking site. Being able to navigate the social media climate is integral for businesses to market their products. It is important for young college students to be offered courses on social media and how to use it to their advantage, either for personal branding or for business marketing.
Universities should offer more courses on social media because there is specific language that makes communication most effective depending on what site you are using, as well as there is a specific audience. If you are active on Instagram, the communication cues you would use would be visuals with filters appropriate to your layout. If you are on twitter, the language you would use would have to be short and concise, as you only have 140 characters to get your point across. It is important to know which language to use in each social media forum. With each social media site there is multiple channels you can communicate through, whether it be video, pictures, or text. All of these sites use hashtags, which help you communicate with a broader audience, especially if the hashtag is trending.
Social media classes should be taught on college Universities because many businesses are active on social media and use it to promote their businessness. Social media is an integral part of a young professionals life- socially, academically, and professionally. Social media can be used for self-promotion regarding jobs, especially now that employers will do background checks on social sites and generally require employees to have some skill in computer mediated communication. Social Media has become a profession and career in its own right and there should be classes on how to navigate the social media climate to most efficiently market yourself.