在首次降低利率后几个小时内，年届65岁的英格兰银行行长，以谨慎的方式踏入了TikTok和Instagram这两个社交平台。尽管这两平台通常充斥着舞蹈对决和配音挑战的内容，他选择与一位个人财务管理网红合作，旨在向年轻一代——这一越来越多对中央银行业务表示怀疑的群体解释货币政策。
在访谈中，巴利放弃了日常标志性的西装外套和领带，坐在舒适的沙发上，以更放松、更具亲和力的形象出现。他说道：“我读到关于影响的文章，并认为‘有趣，但不是最大的故事’”。在讨论英格兰银行对抗物价上涨努力时，他提到鲍勃·迪伦的歌曲对于年轻受众有吸引力。
这段采访是英格兰央行正在改变与“Z世代”沟通方式的一部分举措，即那些较少阅读传统报纸和财经电讯的年轻人群体。而330年的老牌中央银行——其使命始于为威廉三世筹措对抗法国战争的资金——现在正努力与年轻人建立联系。在物价飞涨的情况下，公众对英格兰银行的信任度骤降，最不满意的是年轻群体。
英格兰银行不仅定期发布社交媒体视频讲解学贷、养老金计划和投资储蓄账户等话题，还通过“Elent”平台在学校和办公室举办金融工作坊以促进教育。此外，它还在Instagram上积累了超过92,000粉丝，超过了欧洲央行的粉丝数。在前首相特拉斯的带领下，英格兰银行越来越经常成为政府官员指责经济问题的对象。网上有传言称中央银行家的政策加剧了不平等或计划通过数字货币控制民众行为。
当前，英格兰银行面临与消费者的沟通挑战，尤其是当年轻消费者群体对高利率决策的影响深感影响之际。虽然年轻一代可能回想起过去几次金融危机期间全球中央银行的救援行动，但最近通货膨胀导致英格兰银行及其同行大幅提高借贷成本，使得抵押贷款和汽车贷款变得难以负担。
然而，在政策声明中过度使用一个关键词汇就足以让市场波动，这也是巴利最近在《卫报》上的发言所提醒我们的。在谈到社交媒体战略时，英格兰银行承认正在加强接触年轻人的努力。“我们认为，向尽可能广泛的受众解释我们所做的工作及原因非常重要”，英格兰银行发言人表示。
英格兰央行目前晚于竞争对手一步采取行动。早在2022年，其“青年论坛”警告官员需要发布自有内容以对抗误传信息。最新年度报告也指出社交媒体趋势是对其沟通构成的新兴风险之一。除了巴利在TikTok上的采访之外，英格兰银行还通过其三月上线的新Instagram账户定期发布帖子和故事。此外，它拥有自己的TikTok账号，但尚未在其平台上发布任何内容。
这给了他们能够非常透明地揭示英格兰银行内部运作情况的能力，“这让年轻人能够迅速、几乎立即接触到广泛的人群”，福斯特在接受巴利采访后如此说道。“通过社交媒体渠道传播信息，英格兰央行可以快速触及年轻群体。”
然而，在充斥恶作剧和喜剧片段的竞争激烈的在线内容中，让英格兰央行脱颖而出将会非常困难。今年春季，英格兰银行加强了在线存在感，但已有多年时间里，影响者们已经在为数百万人解释银行业政策。
在物价上涨危机期间，一些流行的TikTok视频错误地传播了一个阴谋论，称英格兰银行将完全控制民众的资金，并侵犯用户隐私。该视频也错误宣称英国央行已经发行了CBDC（中央银行数字货币），但事实并非如此。其他在网上获得关注的叙事包括，英格兰银行政策加剧了通货膨胀并助长了不平等，与中央银行在这些问题上的官方信息相矛盾。
数字顾问公司H/Advisors Maitland的首席执行官安娜·费尔索克指出，内容如果能够揭露背后的真相、富有争议且幽默往往更受TikTok用户欢迎。不止英格兰央行一家，其他几家主要央行也意识到与年轻受众沟通的重要性。美国联邦储备系统于2021年10月在其Instagram上获得了超过20万粉丝；相比之下，欧洲央行尽管自2018年以来就在使用这一平台，但粉丝数仅为8.6万左右。
TikTok属于中国互联网科技公司字节跳动所有，而Instagram是Facebook的子公司。进入社交媒体领域是为了实现政策目标——控制通胀预期对于中央银行而言至关重要，因为它影响了人们对未来物价变化的期望，并阻止工资增长。
英格兰央行经济学家艾舍·韦伯认为：“确实可以认为，如果更多人理解通货膨胀目标，货币政策会更加有效。” “鉴于年轻群体越来越多地通过社交媒体而非传统新闻渠道获取信息，也许行长应该在TikTok上录一些视频。”
新闻来源：www.bloomberg.com
原文地址：Bank of England Launches TikTok and Instagram Efforts to Reach Gen Z
新闻日期：2024-10-05
原文摘要：
Hours after cutting interest rates for the first time in four years, , 65, made his debut on . It was a cautious foray for the governor into a social media platform known for dance battles and lip-syncing. Rather than attempt any such physical feats, Bailey got out of his comfort zone by sitting down with a personal finance influencer to explain monetary policy to a younger generation increasingly suspicious of central banking. He even abandoned his omnipresent jacket and tie to project a looser, approachable vibe.“I read all these articles about impact and say, ‘Yeah, it’s interesting, but it’s not the big story,’” Bailey told his , Abigail Foster, dropping a name sure to resonate with the kids while discussing the BOE’s fight to contain rising prices. (Splurging Swifties that job harder when the Eras Tour rolled through Britain this summer.) The interview is part of an evolution in the way the 330-year-old central bank — founded to fund William III’s wars in France — is trying to communicate with Generation Z, which reads few newspapers and financial news wires. While hardly a viral hit, Bailey’s video got over 42,000 views on TikTok and almost 3,000 likes on Instagram.In recent months, the Old Lady of Threadneedle Street has enlisted influencers to expand its audience, amassing more Instagram followers than the European Central Bank. The BOE similarly featured dancing show stars Curtis and AJ Pritchard in a video to launch the new King bank notes earlier this year. Such outreach is important not only because of changing news consumption habits, but the BOE’s new, more challenging relationship with the public. While older generations might remember the world’s central bankers rushing to the rescue during financial crises past, the recent inflation shock prompted the BOE and its peers to dramatically ramp up borrowing costs, putting mortgages and car loans increasingly out of reach. “The cost-of-living crisis significantly increased young people’s interest,” said Foster, the 30-year-old certified public accountant who interviewed Bailey. Younger people can “feel quite disconnected from financial institutions,” she said, pointing to widespread misinformation online about personal finance.Besides posting regular social media videos explaining student loans, pension plans and investment savings accounts, Foster also founded and runs Elent, which teaches finance workshops in schools and offices.Overall, public confidence in the bank plunged as prices soared, with the youngest age groups being the most dissatisfied with the BOE’s performance, according to its latest inflation attitudes survey. At the same time, political figures, such as former Prime Minister , have grown more vocal in blaming the BOE for Britain’s ills. Online, theories circulate about how central bankers’ policies are exacerbating inequality or that their planned digital currencies are intended to control people’s behavior. The BOE is at a risk of losing touch with a growing segment of consumers at a time when interest rate decisions are reaching deep into the lives of Britons.Still, the bank must tread carefully when a single adjective by a key policymaker can make markets swoon. (See Bailey’s with the Guardian this week.) Asked to discuss its social media strategy, the BOE acknowledged that it is bolstering efforts to reach the young.“We think it’s important for the bank to explain what we do and why to as broad an audience as possible,” a BOE spokesperson said in a statement. “That’s why we’ve been increasing our efforts to reach people where they get their news and information.”The BOE is somewhat late to the party. The BOE’s youth forum — a panel of 24 young people discussing how policy affects them — warned officials in 2022 that they needed to post their own content to counter misinformation. The bank’s latest annual report also flagged trends on social media as an “emerging risk” to its communications. In addition to Bailey’s interview circulating on the likes of TikTok, the BOE has been regularly putting up posts and stories on an Instagram profile launched in March. It also has its own TikTok profile, though it is yet to post anything on the platform. “It gives him the ability to be quite transparent about what’s going on behind the scenes of Bank of England,” Foster said on her interview with Bailey. “They can very quickly reach a broad audience almost instantaneously.”It will be difficult for the BOE to avoid being drowned out by the torrent of content competing for the eyes of younger Britons online, where pranks and comedy sketches are more likely to go viral. The BOE has stepped up its online presence in the spring, but influencers have been explaining the bank’s policies to hundreds of thousands of viewers for years. When searching for a explainer on the UK’s digital currency, one TikTok video that is featured prominently and has been viewed by more than half a million people spreads a conspiracy theory that the BOE will have full control over people’s money and invade users’ privacy. It also incorrectly claims that the central bank has released a CBDC, when .Another narrative that has gained traction online during the cost-of-living crisis is that the BOE’s policies worsened the inflation surge and helped widen inequality, contrary to the central bank’s messaging on these issues.Some businesses have found success on social media platforms, such as EY and Deloitte, according to Anna Fishlock, head of digital at consultancy H/Advisors Maitland. She said that content that “lifts the lid,” and is contentious and humorous often does well on TikTok. A number of central banks have already woken up to the problem of reaching young audiences. The Federal Reserve launched its Instagram profile last October with over 200,000 followers. While the European Central Bank has been posting on the platform since 2018, it has just over 80,000 followers, less than the BOE’s 92,000. TikTok is owned by Chinese internet technology company , while Instagram’s parent is Facebook owner There is a policy purpose to its foray into social media. Keeping inflation expectations under control is key for the central bank as it influences how people expect price changes to unfold in the future and stops wage demands surging.“It’s fair to say that monetary policy would be more effective if more people were to understand the inflation target,” said Ashley Webb, UK economist at . “With more younger people consuming news via social media rather than more traditional news channels, perhaps the governor should record a few TikToks.”
