Programme summary for MA Social Media

Profile section

The MA Social media provides an exciting blend of theory and practical work. The programme builds on UEL’s strengths in Media, Marketing, Cultural studies and Computing to provide an interdisciplinary course tailored to the contexts, practices and production of social media. The course offers both hands-on and reflective perspectives on social media and their development and applications in cultural and creative industries, communities and institutions. Students will study:

Social Media: Cultures, Networks, Markets: a reflective analytic survey of the academic field in the area and an advanced introduction to key debates and theoretical approaches to Social Media drawing on approaches in cultural and media theory and the social sciences
Social Media Applications Development: students will take a course enabling them to understand key computing principles and apply these in the development and design of social media environments. Practical work is a major strand in this programme.
Integrated Marketing Communications and Digital Media: students will critically evaluate Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) to take into account the impacts and potentials of social media in the evolving work of marketing and promotions. The module will integrate the role of digital communications, social media and online communities’ research throughout reflecting developments where computer-mediated consumer interaction has become a central facet of marketing communications practice. Students may choose to focus on cultural-theoretical approaches towards understanding marketing and social media.
Researching Social Media: Social media offer significant opportunities for research and data production. This module equips students to assess, evaluate, critique and analyse social media-based activities with specific reference to delivering social media projects. It provides grounding in key media research approaches with a focus on specific social media research techniques, web analytics and the ethics and methods that can be applied to social media research.
Dissertation / Practice-based Dissertation / Project 60 credit “double” dissertation: students may choose to do an extended dissertation including practice elements or following more traditional academic methods towards an essay-style research dissertation or report. The dissertation project component will be delivered by supervisory teams from Arts and Digital Industries and Architecture, Computing and Engineering or the Royal Docks Business School or from other UEL schools by negotiation / supervisory expertise. A work-based element can be included as a key component in the final project by negotiation.