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The University of Salford in Manchaster will offer a Masters degree in Social Media, focusing on Facebook and Twitter.

Course leader Professor Ben Light said:

Social media is often associated with photos and statuses on Facebook… But there's a massive potential for it to bring communities together, whether they're geographical or online…

We feel 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.

Salford claims to be the world’s first to offer a Masters course in social media, but they are not.  That title goes to Birmingham City University which announced their one-year course in Social Media in March. For a cool £4,400 ($7,200) you get a Master’s Degree of … well, let’s just say questionable value.  In the words of current Birmingham students:

“Virtually all of the content of this course is so basic it can be self taught.  In fact most people know all this stuff already. I think it’s a complete waste of university resources.”

Indeed it is.  Also a waste of money, if you consider the price.  After all, you can get a Master’s Degree for $499, (nofollow) without having to fiddle around with any  courses whatsoever.  Just don’t ask me what you can do with that degree.