Would it be a major deal if your child told you he planned to major in Twitter-nomics in college?
Yes, that Twitter.
As in: “I can’t talk right now Ma; I’ve got to tweet my peeps, yo!”
If you think I’m making this up, then you haven’t seen the recent proposal made by professors at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. A group of educators there are looking to incorporate the soaring popularity of interactive technology such as Twitter and Facebook into an actual four-year bachelor’s degree.
“A working title has been Interactive Web Technology Management, but we’re not quite happy with that,” a professor of Information Systems at UW-Oshkosh told local reporters.
How about this for a working title: Social Media-ology or Texting for Credits?
I can see it now… 18-year-old reluctant college co-ed finds way to validate his CrackBerry addiction by majoring in tweeting.
Great!
Educators maintain that devoting a major to social media is not as far fetched as it sounds.
“Our students use a lot of social media technologies, but not to the extent probably we’d like them to. They may be on Facebook, but don’t see how Facebook may be advantageous to a business,” said one UW-Oshkosh professor.
The university is finalizing a curriculum even as the industry continues to develop new technology, and hopes to offer the new major by spring 2010.
In the meantime, you might want to think twice before lecturing your teen about his texting habits. After all, his interest in social media could yield employment opportunities.
“All over the place companies are realizing the importance of these new medias and they’re trying to take advantage and we just want to make sure the students are equipped to really deal and work in this new environment,” noted UW professors on the committee designing the new degree.
How would you feel if your kid announced he was majoring in Twitter?
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