One college in New Jersey is opening a center for social media study and will be offering a business degree with a concentration in social media marketing. New programs like these are suggesting that social media is here to stay, and will be a major way that all types of business will market in the future.
On one hand this may be a new and exciting opportunity for today’s adolescents and young adults who are interested in pursuing a career in social media. On the other hand, the push towards marketing any and all products through social media is a reminder that adolescents see targeted advertisements everyday on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, ect. It is important to have continuing conversations with adolescents to critically think about the marketing being presented to them. Here are some questions you share with your adolescent to help think about advertising in social media:
Here are some questions you can ask yourself that might be helpful in understanding advertisements in social media:
1.) Who created this message?
2.) What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented in, or left out of this message?
3.) Why is this message being sent?
4.) How might other people understand this message differently than I understand it?
5.) What creative techniques are being used to attract my attention?
Have you had any conversations with your teens about marketing in social media? How would you feel if your teen wanted to major in social media in college? Let us know in the comments!
Sources: NJ.com and ACT for Youth