So the big news today is that all the big news you’re going to get from now on will be conveyed to you via Snapchat's new add-on, Snapchat Discovery. Their bosses announced that the app will soon bring you literal news flashes via their yellow ghosty app. Discovery hasn't even launched yet, but Snapchat are already on the path to world domination, with celebrities moving away from Instagram and onto Snapchat for a more direct and personal way to speak to their fans.
Lily Allen, Tiësto, Lethal Bizzle, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus and Britney Spears all have Snapchat accounts that give them speedy, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it access to their fanbases. And as a user, getting selfies of Lily sunbathing on holiday, or pictures of Britney’s crowds as she’s about to go on stage, you really feel like you’re getting unbridled, personal access into their lives. Apart from those weird times when Team Snapchat send you a ridiculously hi-res 300-second video of a big international event, Snapchat has captured our hearts (for no longer than 10 seconds) because it felt really amateur and off-the-cuff and thrown together with no rules.
READ MORE: This Pub Is Hiring Staff Exclusively Through Snapchat
For celebrities to get involved makes them seem that much more real and accessible. Instagram and Twitpic used to be the location of social media where celebrities could communicate with their fans – but now it's become so quickly and keenly picked up on by tabloids eager to re-print the images being given to them for free, that maybe famouses want somewhere else to share their own personalised images. Plus, you don’t get trolls on Snapchat.
Kate Cliffen, senior account manager at social media agency United Agency says that celebrities are adapting to where they can access more fans: ‘When logging on to Twitter or Instagram the celebrity will instantly see a stream of comments from both fans and trolls, but on Snapchat there’s no comments thread, no replies and no abuse.’
That said, celebrities might want to be careful what they wish for: ‘Any smart major celeb will have their Snapchat set up so that only their friends can send them snaps or else that opens a whole new can of worms, and by worms I mean teenage nudity.’
‘Celebrities want to stay ahead of the curve and continue to build their personal brand. New algorithms mean they’re getting less engagement on their Facebook posts and fans scrolling down to something better means they’re getting less engagement on Instagram on Twitter.
‘But on Snapchat all of the attention is on the celebrity for as long as they can keep you entertained.’
READ MORE: We're So Over Rich Kids Of Instagram - Now It's All About Rich Kids Of Snapchat
Film director Casey Neistat – you know, the guy who got an HBO show The Neistat Brothers after the success of his funny-yet-political virals? – uses Snapchat to promote his work across different platforms and build up a relationship with his fans – who he lets Snap him back and will sometimes respond to - ‘I started using Snapchat in June and quickly realized the potential of the the platform. Largely it's used for sending silly selfies and quick snaps but there is a lot more to it than that. A real time story-telling platform.’
READ MORE: Have Your Snapchat Messages Vanished As Quickly As You Thought?
Having started off on YouTube, he’s no stranger to online communication. But he likes the familiarity of Snapchat: ‘I think people prefer it because of the intimacy. Unlike a Twitter or Instagram where posts are viewed on a feed from a variety of people, a snap is direct. From one person to another.’
He can’t give an exact number of how many Snapchat ‘friends’ he has, simply because, unlike other social media, Snapchat doesn’t encourage that whole oneupmanship of placing numbers on followers or ‘friends’: ‘It is difficult to pinpoint viewership because the growth is so rapid. It's constantly changing, an audience that takes years to grow on YouTube is happening in weeks on Snapchat.’
No wonder, then, that Snapchat’s worth about $10bn (£6bn) right now! While celebrities aren’t necessarily chasing after money with their forays into Snapchat, they’re definitely chasing after audiences in order to familiarise and build their brand.
It's hard to tell whether celebrities are doing it because they like the format - or whether it's because they'll just cotton onto whatever young fans are doing right now - but either way, as Kate puts it, when it comes to celebrities on social media: ‘Fish where the fish are.’
Like this? You'll also be interested in:
Girl Provides Best Snapchat Advert Ever After Accidentally Sending Dad A Nudie
** Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson**
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.