According to the latest report by Reuters, Instagram is close to surpassing Twitter as a popular news source.
Reportedly, Instagram has become a preferred platform for news especially for youngsters aged 18-24. Moreover, the use of the app has doubled over the last two years.
Instagram's most engaging features including IGTV and Stories could be the main reason behind the surge of its use.
The report says that 11% of people use Instagram for news while the stats show 12% for Twitter. Instagram is expected to beat Twitter over the next year.
Meanwhile, Facebook stays at the top as the most popular social media news source, with 35% of people using the platform to stay updated daily. YouTube and WhatsApp take the second and third spots with 21% and 16% of people using them for news respectively.
But with all the fake news on different platforms, people don't feel confident staying informed from social media. About 26% of the people said that they trusted getting their news from social media while 59% of people said they trust official news organizations more instead, for COVID-19 news in particular.
Social media platforms have been making numerous efforts to tackle fake news. From introducing fact-checking to their apps to prompting users to read an article before sharing it, platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter have all played their part to ensure users aren't misled.
