Gain a definitive guide to harnessing social media for organizational success
6 weeks, excluding
orientation
6–8 hours per week,
entirely online
Weekly modules,
flexible learning
Earn a digital
MIT Sloan certificate
1
The ability to leverage social media to achieve strategic organizational objectives using MIT’s rigorous scientific approach.
2
A comprehensive understanding of the economic and neurological underpinnings of social media, and how these can be used to drive audience engagement, insight, and action.
3
A playbook of tactics, which includes strategies for enhancing marketing and promoting behavioral change in a hypersocialized world.
4
Insight from world-renowned MIT faculty member Sinan Aral, as well as influential industry experts who share real-life case studies in social media success.
Over the duration of this online program, you’ll work through the following modules:
MODULE 1
The Hype Machine: Social Media and the Brain
Learn more about how social media influences the brain.
MODULE 2
The Economics of Social Media: Leveraging the Attention Economy
Discover how economic forces shape the Hype Machine.
MODULE 3
Under the Hood of the Hype Machine: How Social Media Works
Explore the anatomy of the Hype Machine.
MODULE 4
Personalized Mass Persuasion
Explore how personalized persuasion techniques can be incorporated into marketing.
MODULE 5
Hypersocialization Playbook
Learn how to apply the five tactics of the hypersocialization playbook to your context.
MODULE 6
The Future of the Social Media Hype Machine
Explore future trends and ethical considerations for social media.
Please note that module titles and their contents are subject to change during course development.
“I have been researching social media for 20 years. I spent four years writing what I hope is the definitive guide to social media management and strategy for the 21st century, and I couldn’t be more excited to share it with the world.”
– Sinan Aral, Director and Head of Social Analytics and Large Scale Experimentation, MIT Sloan School of Management
Sinan Aral
David Austin Professor of Management, Marketing, IT and Data Science, MIT; Director, MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy; Founding Partner, Manifest Capital
Author of the new book The Hype Machine, Aral explores how social media is disrupting our businesses, politics, and public health. He was the chief scientist at SocialAmp, one of the first social commerce analytics companies (until its sale to Merkle in 2012), and at Humin, a social platform that the Wall Street Journal called the first “social operating system” (until its sale to Tinder in 2016). He is currently a founding partner at Manifest Capital and on the advisory board of the Alan Turing Institute, Britain’s national institute for data science, in London. Aral has worked closely with Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, Airbnb, Yahoo, Jet.com, Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Cisco, Oracle, SAP, and many other leading Fortune 500 firms on realizing business value from big data analytics, social media, and IT investments. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Northwestern University, holds master’s degrees from the London School of Economics and Political Science and Harvard University, and received his PhD from MIT.
”This program is thought-provoking yet practical. My understanding of how social media works has vastly improved. From the learnings, I feel equipped to improve the effectiveness of social media campaigns.”
This MIT Sloan online program is delivered in collaboration with online education provider GetSmarter. Join a growing community of global professionals, and benefit from the opportunity to:
Develop new competencies and earn valuable recognition from an international selection of universities and institutions, entirely online and on your own time frame.
Enjoy a personalized, people-mediated online learning experience that supports you every step of the way.
Experience a flexible but structured approach to online education as you plan your learning around your life to meet weekly milestones.