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Startups / Trends

Instagram in 2018 by the numbers: Why it matters to marketers

Michael Burke Posted On October 16, 2018

It’s been a mixed year for Instagram, their explosive user growth and innovative new features have been mixed in with some internal turmoil within the company, which ultimately resulted in its founders, Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger, leaving.

However, that doesn’t overshadow some of the incredible figures that the company has produced in the past 12 months, making the platform more interactive and engaging for its users. As a marketer, I’m constantly asked the question by small business owners “Does Instagram matter to my business?” or “Should I invest time into Instagram?” The short answer to this is yes.

Instagram is by far the fastest growing and most interactive social network on the web right now, and figuring out how you can create a unique brand and generate revenue from the platform could be just the thing that takes your business to the next level, but don’t take my word for it. Below I’ve listed 10 Instagram statistics that marketers should take note of when developing their Instagram strategy for the year ahead.

One Billion monthly active users
59% of users are under the age of 30
72% of teenagers use Instagram every day
80% of Instagram users are based outside of the United States
35% of adults that are active online using Instagram
22% of Instagram users log in to the app daily
25% of smartphone users Instagram
Users ‘like’ 4.2 Billion posts per day
Users post 400 million stories per day
There has been an 80% increase in year by year in video use on the platform
72% of users have bought a product that they first saw on Instagram
There are 25 million businesses on Instagram
71% of US businesses use Instagram
There are now 2 million advertisers on Instagram
80% of users follow at least 1 business on Instagram
60% users discover products on Instagram
90% of the world’s top 100 brands are now on Instagram
Android users spend on average 53 minutes per day on the app
Users post 95 million posts per day on the app
People under the age of 25 use Instagram on average 32 minutes per day

In an era where these numbers are duplicating year over year, marketers should look at which ones affect them the most. It’s evident from the above that users are beginning to use Instagram as a place where they evaluate products and influence their purchasing decisions.

With more than 25 million businesses now using the platform, and 72% of users admitting that they’ve bought a product that they have seen via the social network, it is no wonder that Instagram is doubling down on e-commerce features. The question is, can your business really afford not to have a clean, professional looking brand on Instagram as we move into 2019?

Let us know below if you’ve already begun building a presence on the platform, or if the statistics above have influenced to do so.

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Trends

Blockchain is taking off in Aviation

Valentina Cullmann Posted On September 21, 2018

By 2036, almost 8 billion passengers will be flying around the globe. From check-in to immigration, from plane assembly to maintenance – making sure that all processes and transactions in the airline industry run smoothly has created a global powerhouse of administrative burden. Yet new innovators and startups linked to blockchain technology are eagerly pushing to make the industry smarter, safer and more efficient.

Large corporations that dominate the sector, such as airlines, aircraft manufacturer and airports, are inviting in technology partners and startups to come up with well-needed innovative impulses. For example, Europe’s biggest Airline Lufthansa jointly with SAP’s Berlin-based accelerator are currently running a competition for entrepreneurial startup ideas to transform the sector.

Is the blockchain the future of aviation? We take up three promises of how blockchain technology might upgrade your next flight.

1. Safer planes

Remember the images of the Space Shuttle Colombia disaster? Although airplanes are still the safest mode of transport, the quality of material, engineering and maintenance is key for a safe flight experience – in case of failure, the results can quickly be catastrophic. In fact, equipment failures still account for around 20% of aircraft losses, despite improvements in design and manufacturing quality.

“When something as complicated as an airplane gets made from scratch, it has to source from hundreds of different suppliers around the world. This is perhaps where blockchain can make a big difference”, says Matej Michalko, CEO of blockchain startup DECENT. The company just announced 3IPK, a decentralized application for the aviation industry, aiming to automate certification control, airworthiness, supply chain and maintenance processes for the aerospace sector.

For example, serial codes of plane components can be stored on the blockchain together with key information such as the date, place and price of manufacturing, who last handled it and when the last maintenance was conducted. In effect, the assembly, substitution and check-ups of aircrafts could be immensely facilitated.

Airplane manufacturing is still a huge market, with estimates of the number of planes in the world range between 23.000 and 39.000. Considering that sales prices for Boeing airplanes currently start at about $82 million for a 737-700 and run up to more than $400 million for the new 777-9 model (expected next year), the aircraft market is still huge in size. Easier traceability of supply parts and maintenance might not only ensure safety, but also has the potential to significantly lower these costs.

4. Better Airport experience

Miles & More, oneworld, or Flying Blue: Frequent flyer programs and loyalty schemes are ubiquitous in the airline industry. But with passengers being increasingly global customers, questions of currency exchanges and available partner institutions for trading in these benefits across country borders naturally emerge. In future, these loyalty points might in therefore be traded as blockchain-enabled cryptocurrencies, making it easier to spend the miles earned irrespective of the country you land in.

For instance, Singapore airlines announced earlier this year the launch of KrisPay, a “digital blockchain wallet that allows frequent flyers to convert airmiles into digital currency”. Powered by technology partner Microsoft, the digital wallet will allow members to pay for purchases at partner merchants with their KrisPay points for amounts as little as US$ 0.10.

Furthermore, hailed the ‘first crypto-friendly airport‘, travelers visiting Brisbane airport can already pay in over 30 stores in bitcoin cryptocurrency, one of the best-known use cases of blockchain technology.

The new scheme that was launched earlier this year is the result of a cooperation between the airport and TravelByBit, and Australian startup focusing on payment platforms powered by blockchain.

The benefit? “Bitcoin is perfect for travel, there’s no exchange rate issues or risk of credit card fraud”, explains Caleb Yeoh, CEO of Travelbybit.

3. Smarter passports, tickets and contracts

Got your visa immigration stamp? Currently, passports and airline tickets are still overwhelmingly paper-based or in simple electronic form as data stored on chip, barcode or on a centralized server. In the future, however, blockchain technology might drastically change the industry through safely storing passenger identities on tokens.

The important difference to electronic passports and e-tickets is that blockchain technology completely eliminates the need for a central server. Instead, the information is stored in a decentralized ledger that is almost impossible to manipulate. This would not only do away with paper-based passports and tickets, but importantly also with the risk of human error, passport or ticket fraud.

Furthermore, while blockchain technology is still emerging, it is expected that the costs of running the systems will drop significantly over the next years – meaning that these transactions might become significantly cheaper.

The cost-saving potential does not only pertain to ticketing, check-in and immigration processes, but to all financial processes linked to serving around 4 billion passengers a year, and employing an estimated estimated 290,000 active pilots around the world.

For example, airlines are by law required to compensate passengers for significant delays or cancelled flight – yet the process of claiming this compensation is cumbersome on both sides. Startup FlightDelay is proposing to eliminate the entire process and replace it through a a fully automated insurance policy, linked to a Cryptocurrency account that will automatically receive payments.

On a more general level, the financial settlement system of IATA, the international air transport associations, pays a staggering US $7.7 billion in fees to financial institutions every year, reports the the Centre for Aviation. Blockchain-powered smart contracts mean that a decentralized and temper-proof system could potentially cut out the many intermediaries of financial transactions in the aviation industry, saving six to ten digits of transaction costs.

From buying the last quick coffee at the airport to crossing immigration at your destination: Behind the scenes, blockchain might make the travel experience safer, cheaper and smarter.

Industry experts such as global consulting firm Accenture belief that the capabilities of the blockchain might be the perfect fit with characteristics of the aviation industry, such as data sharing of multiple actors and many touchpoints along the travel journey. And in the buzzing blockchain startup scene, entrepreneurial minds that want to transform the sector are inviting their corporate peers to fasten their seatbelt – the blockchain journey might just be ready for take-off.

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Startups / Trends

Belfast opens 1st fintech co-working space at Danske Bank: Catalyst Belfast Fintech Hub

Tim Hinchliffe Posted On September 12, 2018

Belfast opens its first fintech co-working space, Catalyst Belfast Fintech Hub, on the newly-refurbished ground floor of the Danske Bank city centre’s headquarters.

(more…)

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In Depth / Trends

Tech for Refugees: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Valentina Cullmann Posted On September 7, 2018

Most people in Europe remember the picture of the Syrian boy Aylan Kurdi being washed on the shores of Turkey, sparking a heated debate about solidarity in the midst of what was termed ‘refugee crisis’ in Europe.

The outcry to better receive, support and integrate refugees was not only met by a surge of humanitarian initiatives, but also hit the tech sector. Apps, websites, social networks – a surge of digital initiatives tried to capitalize on technology to aid vulnerable refugees, in particular in Germany and Central Europe.

Fast forward nearly three years later, the initial euphoria has settled – what has remained of the ‘tech4refugees’ hype?

The Good: Tech that addresses needs – of those in need

Struggle with translation? Download Tarjimly, an app that connects refugees with a community of 2500+ volunteer translators. Registering with authorities, going grocery shopping, visiting a doctor – the app promises qualified support for for refugees from 16 languages, including Arabic, Somali or Burmese.

Need a new job? Social Bee is a platform that facilitates hiring refugees through supporting the full cycle from recruitment over job preparation, language trainings and cultural integration. Founded in 2016 in Munich, it is dubbed the first ‘integration service provider’ and the winner of several innovation awards .

The list of digital initiatives goes on infinitely. Refunite is an online platform helping families dispersed by migration to reconnect. Moni supports refugees to receive payments online without the need of a bank account or identity card. Chatterbox offers refugees to capitalize on their foreign language skills and find employment as online language tutors.

These are just few of the manifold examples of what has become known as ‘tech4refugees’, a term describing initiatives often driven by tech startups facilitating support to vulnerable groups through the aid of technology. Technology can be used creatively to help to overcome linguistic, cultural, or administrative barriers in the new home.

Sometimes tech startups are also simply providing faster response than the more corporate peers: Refugees Welcome, hailed the ‘first Airbnb for refugees’ emerged in 2014 and helped organizing shelter for more than 400 refugees in Germany during peak arrivals. The ‘real Airbnb’ came second – while the company has reached out to its hosts during emergency situations for years, it was only in 2017 that the ‘Open Airbnb’ was launched, allowing anybody to sign up for hosting someone in need.

The Bad: Welcome to the desert of dead initiatives

‘404 Not Found’: Many of the tech4refugees initiatives are inactive today. The unprecedented rise of ‘tech4refugee’ apps and sites looks like a bubble that decided to burst.

This phenomena can be partly be attributed to initiatives specifically targeting short-term needs that naturally become obsolete as migration waves cool down, such as emergency housing at the peak of refugee arrivals. But this only partly explains the rapid collapse of many initiatives.

What went wrong? “Building too many things, and building things that weren’t used”, concludes a recent publication of German digital social innovation ThinkTank betterplace lab.

Especially in the peak wave period of refugees arriving, a plethora of initiatives was founded and funded, to provide services in every domain from housing over job opportunities to learning a new language.

In Germany alone, every week saw an average of four new tech4refugee projects launched during this ‘explosion phase’, according to the study ‘Digital Routes to integration‘.

NGOs, public agencies, corporations, startups alongside with citizens and volunteers all joined in the frenzied scramble of tech ideas to support refugees. Clarat refugees, an initiative that mapped over 7000 initiatives, handed over its operations after two years – apparently struggling to keep up with the sheer complexity of this landscape.

‘Fail fast and fail often’ might be the golden credo of agile tech development. However, the risks are considerably larger for vulnerable refugees relying on outdated information or apps that might disappear the next days, says Meghan Benton from the Migration Policy Institute. For example, it is easy to imagine the perils of outdated information on asylum processes or legal routes to integration.

…and the ugly: Anti-refugee violence spurred by social media?

Sadly, tech is not only a tool for those who are supporting the needs of refugees – it can also become a catalyzer for those posing a danger to their lives and well-being.

A recent study from the University of Warwick investigates the link between anti-refugee sentiments on Facebook and real-life hate crime in Germany – and found that “towns with an above-average use of Facebook experienced more violence against refugees“.

This suggest a correlation specifically between the use of Facebook, exposure to anti-immigration sentiment and violence. In Germany, the relatively new right-wing party Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) has heavily relied on social media for its quick rise in popularity, reaching 12,6% in the 2017 election. Facebook refused to comment on the study to the press.

We are now witnessing the highest level of global displacement. According to UNHCR, and unprecedented 68.5 million people around the world have been forced from home.

Technology can be a catalyst for innovative ways to deliver much-needed support to refugees worldwide – yet the lessons from the refugee crisis in Germany point to taking a careful look at which initiatives will really deliver the value they promise.

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