Instagram on track to top Snapchat's new user sign ups (SNAP, FB)

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Snapchat has signed up more US users for its app than its rival Instagram has since the beginning of the year, though its leadership on this front may end soon, according to Jumpshot data cited by Recode.

Jumpshot analyzed engagement with new-user confirmation e-mails for both platforms and found Snapchat garnered 52% of US signups between the two last months. That's down from 75% a year earlier. Globally, Instagram is already in the lead.

Instagram received 62% of new user sign-ups globally in August 2017, while Snapchat received 38%. Instagram’s global lead over Snapchat reflects the company's concerted efforts to appeal to users abroad. Additionally, its parent Facebook’s large global user base of over 2 billion monthly users likely also played a role in Instagram’s leadership. On the other hand, Snap has largely shied away from growing its user base in less developed markets where data connections may not be as strong. Fifty-six percent of Snapchat’s daily users in Q2 2017 came from outside of the US, while just 24% came from its Rest of World region, and the remaining 20% came from Europe.
Snapchat's signup advantage looks poised to disappear soon. Though Snapchat held leadership over Instagram in US signups in August, its slowing user growth is evident in the downward trend in the proportion of US signups. Snapchat’s percentage of new-user sign ups started decelerating meaningfully in September 2016, which is likely because Instagram Stories first launched the prior month. Snapchat added just 15 million users daily users from Q4 2016 to Q2 2017, while Instagram Stories added 100 million daily users this year alone. Snapchat could accelerate user growth by increasingly building out unique features not found on Instagram, such as Snap Map and Crowd Surf.

Snapchat can still raise engagement among existing users to pitch itself to advertisers. Though slowing user growth may remain an issue for Snapchat, because of Instagram’s mimicking, Snapchat can still create new ways for users to interact and build out its Discover section to keep users in-app for longer periods of time. These efforts have worked for the company recently, for example, content submitted to Our Story has increased 30% since the launch of Snap Map. This allows Snapchat to pitch advertisers a more engaged user base and potentially drive ad spend to the platform.

Social networks are here to stay, and they're constantly evolving. Globally, more than 2.8 billion people — or 37% of the world's population — use social media, but the way those users interact with each other, and the platforms they adopt, vary widely.

Kevin Gallagher, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has put together a report on social media demographics that highlights the key audience demographics for six major social platforms: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Pinterest. It also:

Breaks down the reach of social platform audiences in terms of age, income, education, and gender.
Examines how time spent and monthly users across major age brackets have changed in the past three years.
Explores the preferences of US teens and young millennials, and how they're changing.
Identifies the most important demographic changes that advertisers should monitor as social platforms continue to grow.

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