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January 9, 2015 — Published by: Fereshta Amir

In numbers: why brands need to start taking Snapchat seriously

EvanSpiegelEvery month at Battenhall we take a look at user stats of major players as well as the next big thing in the world of social media, reporting our findings in The Battenhall Monthly. Times (and figures) are a'changing as in the last few months of 2014, we saw Instagram trump Twitter with a whopping 300 million users and now it looks like Snapchat could be bigger than we thought too. We've reported that SnapChat has more than 100 million users, but according to this Business Insider article that number could be closer to 200 million if you read between the lines of CEO Evan Spiegel's words.

If this is true, then the four year young photo sharing company has steadily grown to a user base as big as that of Instagram's. If this is not enough to convince sceptical brands (and people) that Snapchat is here to stay, then this might: the company recently raised nearly $500 million at a $10-20 billion valuation and reported 700 million photos sent per day on the app, with 500 million Snapchat Stories (and that was back in May 2014!)

Snapchat users are highly engaged and its CEO quoted its growth as "abnormal", which was revealed in leaked private emails following the Sony hack. Reading between the lines, it is hinted that Snapchat could be closing in on Twitter's hold of 180 million+ mobile users.

We're keeping our eyes peeled for official stats, but while we wait for that... maybe it's time for brands to consider Snapchat as not just another app, but one that is here to stay. Read more on this here.

October 21, 2013 — Published by: Anton Perreau

Questions on monetary policy? #AskBoE

screen shot 2013-10-18 at 6.56.34 am

The Bank of England broke new ground on Friday, in fact - it became the first central bank in the world to answer questions through Twitter.  at The Guardian says it perfectly:

"When Britain's first modern central banker was at the helm of the Bank of England between 1920 and 1944, tweeting was strictly for the birds."

But not anymore, using the hashtag #AskBoE, the Bank of England answered people's questions about monetary policy. Business insider summarised some of the key questions being asked. Timing here was perfect - just a day after British Gas had a total Twitter meltdown, and that's an understatement.

Answers to questions were sensible, smart and most importantly sometimes included a little hint of good British humour. As one user explained, it might not have been as fun as the #AskBG Twitter chat, but it certainly was more informative.

Since launching its Twitter account mid-2011 The Bank of England has gained 47,100 followers - setting a precedent for other central banks to follow. A full summary of the hour-long Q&A can be found on The BBC Business pages.