New data shows how Facebook and Instagram users are different

Dive Brief:

In a Facebook blog post, lead IQ researcher Vicki Molina-Estolano outlined core differences between how Facebook and its companion social media platform’s users are different.
The key finding was Facebook’s users are satisfying a need for empowerment, recognition and connection, while Instagram users are satisfying a need for fun, relaxation and discovery.
“People spend a lot of time on both feeds—20% of Americans’ time on mobile is spent on Facebook and Instagram," Molina-Estolano wrote. "And while we’ve known for a while that people turn to Facebook to discover news about their friends and family and to Instagram for inspiration, there’s more to the story. Marketers need to understand how and why different groups of people—men, women, parents, millennials—use Facebook and Instagram so that they can engage people in a more relevant way.”

Dive Insight:

A high-level view of Facebook and Instagram can be valuable to marketers when planning campaigns on the social networks. Because Facebook and Instagram share an ad platform as well as many ad formats, it's easy for marketers to create campaigns that run on both social media platforms, but it does pay to understand the audience in order to tailor the main push toward the correct venue.

“We found that during big cultural events, people go to Facebook for reactions and opinions and to Instagram for an insider’s perspective," the post said. "When we asked people to evaluate the content that received the most likes, shares and comments on Facebook and Instagram during the Melbourne Cup, Carnaval and other events, they rated the Instagram content as more ‘behind-the-scenes,’ and the top Facebook posts as more ‘opinionated.’”

Going deeper into the insights, “fun” on Facebook is about humor while “fun” on Instagram is about “encountering the unexpected.”

Another finding is that millennials are more interested in video content than other demographics. This group is more likely to follow content related to fashion, beauty and interior design on Instagram rather than on Facebook.