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John Murphy

John Murphy

Historian and educator, Dr. John Murphy, Ed.D., is a Resident Lecturer at Lectures on Tap in Chicago and hosts "It's 5:00 O'Clock Sometime," after a career in K-12 school leadership.

Sep 24, 2026

17:36
So do you think traditional academic credentials are becoming more valuable as trust signals that you can build an audience on TikTok? Do you think having a PhD or any kind of educational background gives you more credibility? How do you see that?
17:54
Yeah, I think that's a national, international discussion that I feel like we're all kind of having in real time.
18:02
And it's interesting watching creators... who front load their credentials really quickly in terms of like, there's a reason you should listen to me.
18:15
A trend that I am noticing much more over the last year or so is someone will say something insane and the video starts with a clear like stitch incoming at the beginning.
18:28
And especially around like an academic idea.
18:31
So you see the person say something, I don't know, bonkers, like vaccines are bad, but it'll say stitching coming at the top.
18:38
So you get this almost like rage bait engagement at the front end.

15 MINS LATER

33:16
Another question is around like, in five years, do you think that we'll see more credential experts building their own platforms and like getting that recognized career paths outside of maybe being just an academia or being at conferences?

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