New study: Instagram climbs the ladder, TikTok has a long way to go

The dominance of the US tech giants continues. In most countries, more than half of the top 10 most important apps are owned by Facebook or Google.

It is especially the Facebook-owned apps which dominate the top lists with Facebook or WhatsApp being named as the most essential app in all countries but Sweden. Also, Instagram is among people’s top picks.

Instagram proves to be a highly relevant advertising platform

Besides being considered one of the “must-have” apps, Instagram is also increasing its share of users across all countries. At the same time, the app is one of the social media that is used most frequently, with more than two- thirds of Instagram users using the platform daily.

All of this, of course, makes Instagram a highly relevant advertising platform, but what makes it particularly interesting to our industry is the fact that it is the social media used by most people to follow brands. In most countries, more than one-third of Instagram users use the platform with the purpose of following brands, indicating that Instagram delivers a platform with users who are highly engaging in commercial content.

TikTok is still some way behind… at least for now

Also, we see that the up and coming challenger of the social media world – TikTok – still has a long way to go to become a mainstream platform. Only in the US and Norway, TikTok is used by more than 10% of the online population – and mainly among the young.

The impact of social media on lives

Finally, we see interesting findings on how individuals feel about social media. More than one-third of participants in all countries surveyed find social media important to them. And when asked whether they find that social media has a positive impact on their lives, one-third agree. Interestingly enough, Finland is an outlier when compared to all other countries, as more than half of Finns consider social media important to them and 41% agree with the fact that social media has a positive impact on their lives.

Get further insights

In our study, you can learn more about the current state of app and social media in the US, UK, Germany and Nordics. Enjoy!

The study is based on more than 16.000 individual survey respondents across seven countries; The US, the UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland.

Download the full study and get further insights now: