Instagram smartphone users overtake Twitter for first time
INSTAGRAM, the arty photo-sharing app for smartphones, has overtaken Twitter for the number of daily visitors and time spent using the app in the US for the first time following a summer boom in its popularity.
During August, users spent about eight minutes a day adding filter effects and looking at photos on the app compared to about five-and-a half minutes spent reading and updating Twitter, according to data from analytics firm comScore.
Instagram, which was snapped up by Facebook for $1bn (£616m) in shares and cash in April, also beat Twitter for the number of daily visitors, with 7.3m people visiting the app last month compared to 6.7m people accessing Twitter on their phones.
It follows a boom in Instagram’s daily usage by people over the summer, with average daily visitor numbers increasing from 886,000 in March to 7.3m last month. Usage spiked in June to 4.6m visits – surging from 1.9m visits in April – after the app was made available to the Android operating system.
Instagram was founded in 2010 by two Stanford graduates Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger.