Instagram To Surpass Twitter As A News Source: Report

Facebook-owned visual-sharing social media platform, Instagram, is set to overtake Twitter as a news source suggests a report by the 2020 Reuters Institute Digital News.

The report also found that the app is quite popular among the youth and the use of Instagram for consuming news has doubled since 2018.

Though social media platforms were also among the least-trusted sources. Just 26% of the respondents said they trusted social media as a source of information on COVID-19. A similar percentage said they trusted news that had been shared on Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp.

More than a third of all people who participated and answered the survey used Instagram and 11% used it for news, placing it just one point behind Twitter.

“Instagram’s become very popular with younger people”, said lead author of the report, Nic Newman, . “They really respond well to stories that are told simply and well with visual images”.

Engaging visual stories in the past few month months about climate change, the Black Lives Matter movement, and the coronavirus pandemic have all garnered massive engagement on the photo-sharing platform.

On the other hand, 59% of respondents showed trust in national governments and news organisations, a temporary rise during the pandemic, as per the report. 

Facebook's role in how stories are being told "remains incredibly important", Newman added. The social media giant also owns WhatsApp which has a userbase of two billion.