Beware the “Academic Influencers” you see online—specifically the ones speaking from their experiences as professors. In the past few years, I have seen an uptick in academics becoming internet personalities and attempting to influence their viewers/future students into monetarily engaging with them. And now, I’m soapboxing about how to recognize these people.
What do I mean? Academic Influencers are academics who make internet content about academia, typically in the vein of studying tips, thesis tips, and other wide appealing advice. However, hidden underneath, they often encourage their viewers to purchase specialized guides, courses, or tutoring sessions from them. This can be in the form of outright payments or subscriptions.
How do they present themselves? These academics are real academics, admittedly. They have a PHD, typically, work with students in a professorial capacity, and may engage in research in their field. However, these influencers often do the following:
Do not fully disclose their specializations. For example, a certain Prof. C.B. who works in Health Sciences as an Anesthesiologist but all of her social media lists her as an Academic Specialist instead. Notably, an Academic Specialist is an entirely different career and specialization which she does not have training for. Avoiding disclosing your specific field of work/study is an intentional move to make your content more applicable to a wider variety of students—even if you do not have the academic background to properly inform them. (Don't even get me started on discipline hopping!!)
They use their professor background to imply or outright claim that they have special knowledge in pedagogy, academic skill building, or other student oriented specializations. For example, “...has helped thousands of students with their theses in the last 10 years,” may sound special however, it is the job of most professors to oversee thesis works. In the above statement, it is the sheer number (thousands) that implies that this person goes above and beyond and thus, will care about you more.
They present their content as “outside of academia.” This comes along with phrases, such as: “Universities don’t teach this anymore,” “your professors won’t tell you this,” and other statements. This is a way of verbally isolating themselves from the broader academic sphere and imply that they are providing secretive knowledge to you because they, unlike everyone else, want you to succeed. They might even go so far as to claim they are: "The internet's professor," "your professor," etc. Establishing a false kinship implies that they have good intentions with you. Beware!
They discuss a common problem for student academics and then their special solution. For this specific example, the academic influencer who claims she can teach you to write your thesis in 30 days! Regardless of your level, according to her website, you can pay her $37 to learn how to write your Bachelor's, Master's, or PHD dissertation in 30 days. This may appeal to many students but it's an obvious grift that targets the common stressors of students.
They want you to buy something. This is often subtly done to avoid scaring people away. But these people are here to influence you into spending your money. Just because they aren't shilling out more obvious products (such as luxury goods) does not mean they aren't marketing. These people often make videos on platforms such as Instagram, Youtube, and TikTok. At first, their content may be free but once a steady viewer base is established you might find that: longer videos are payment locked, books/workbooks are being sold, they have links to a payment website to purchase their content, paid subscribers get specialized content, etc. After all, this is "secret knowledge of academia." It isn't free!
What do I do? Break their facade! Professors, including those who aren't influencers, are typically easy to find. You can find their university, you can learn their field of work, you can find their publications. Inform yourself about the person who is marketing to you and decide for yourself. For example, I would not take academic writing advice from someone outside of my field (which has different standards) and from someone not qualified to teach academic writing. What if I still need help? If you find yourself still needing help, wanting help, or seeing value in this content, I advise you to reach out to your school's resources. This means engaging with your academic sphere, not someone else's. You can speak to your professors, your academic advisors, department tutors, the university writing center. Some universities even have a student achievement department (often with a litany of similar names). These people are qualified to aid you and they can match the needs of your specific major/department/research goal requirements.
Don't let these influencers prey on you. Academia is stressful enough without grifters.
