Ireland's first university degree course for people who want to be "influencers" is to open for applicants in November.
The Bachelor of Arts in Content Creation and Social Media is due to begin at South East Technological University in Carlow next September.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Dr Eleanor O'Leary, lecturer in media and communications at the university, said the industry has doubled in value globally since 2019 and so a lot of people end up working in the space.
"It is kind of worth an estimate of between 14 and 16 billion worldwide and so it is an area that has specific set of skills," she said.
"Lots of people end up working and collaborating with brands.
"They could be self-employed as an influencer, or they could go in with a company and organisation as a content creator."
The university has a number of degrees in the digital media profession and considers the course an expansion of that offering.
Dr O'Leary said the profession draws on existing public relations, marketing and media skills, but ultimately this is a new area in and of itself.
She added that many young people are proficient in social media, but in terms of education, they look at adding business skills, developing people to be "champions of their own growth" as creatives, making sure they understand critical cultural studies, and teaching them technical skills such as video editing, audio editing, podcasting and writing.
"If you think about working in this space, there is quite a lot of crisis management, understanding how the different platforms work and what you might develop depending on what brand you are working on," Dr O’Leary said.
