British university offers masters degree in Twitter

The Twitter craze has just become legitimate.

Britain’s Birmingham City University has launched a ?4000 social media masters degree in which students will examine how society communicates on sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Bebo.

The one year course is set to start next year, but it already has its critics. Britain’s The Telegraph newspaper quoted Jamie Waterman, a Birmingham-based student, as saying the course was “a complete waste of university resources”.

“It’s of no interest to me whatsoever. Virtually all of the content of this course is so basic it can be self-taught.”

But the course convenor, Jon Hickman, has defended the course. “The course does entail synoptic research and scholarly activity, which are the fundamental criteria for masters degrees. It’s very relevant and very scholarly. It’s a new course, but its importance is unquestionable.

“Social media is very important for jobs within the marketing and communications sector, as a skill set within other jobs, and as an industry within itself.”

It is not clear whether lectures will be delivered in 140 character posts.