Instagram/Walla!
Technology, Yanon Ben Shoshan
After years of a stubborn fight against TikTok, Instagram has finally returned to the top of the global downloads chart - according to data from the research company Sensor Tower.
According to the publication, the total number of downloads of Instagram increased by 20% in 2023 and reached 768 million, making it the most requested application in the world.
In contrast, the number of downloads of TikTok, which is owned by China's ByteDance, rose only 4% to 733 million in the same period.
In fact, data suggests that the photo-sharing platform Meta (formerly Facebook) is successfully attracting new users.
"Instagram has overtaken TikTok in the rate of adoption in recent years, thanks to the popularity of its Reels feature alongside existing features and functions of older social networks," Sensor Tower said.
At the same time, there are signs that TikTok's growth has started to decline
for the first time since it launched in 2016.
According to Sensor Tower, the number of monthly active users of Instagram reached 1.47 billion, with an increase of 13 million in the last quarter of 2023. In contrast, the number of active users of TikTok reached 1.12 billion, with a decrease of 12 million in the last three months of last year
However, TikTok continues to achieve better engagement from its billion active users worldwide.
In the last quarter of last year, users spent an average of 95 minutes on TikTok compared to 62 minutes on Instagram.
There are signs that TikTok's growth has started to decline for the first time since it launched in 2016/ShutterStock
Bama recognized the threat in time
TikTok's meteoric growth since its launch has not gone unnoticed by Mark Zuckerberg.
The CEO of Meta (formerly Facebook) identified the Chinese platform as a real threat to the dominance of Facebook and Instagram, both of which are key assets in the social media empire he built.
The fear of TikTok was so great that Zuckerberg ordered Instagram to copy its main feature - short videos. The result: "Reels", a feature launched in 2020 in a desperate attempt to stem the flow of young users to TikTok. Now, it turns out that it was a significant step that managed to save the platform.
Zuckerberg has been known over the years for his keen business sense, but also for his tendency to adopt successful features from competitors , such as the stories - which came from Snapchat. In both cases, the measures succeeded in helping the company maintain its dominance of the social networks.
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