Instagram is the fastest growing social network in Japan, according to research by Nielsen and NetRatings Japan. The number of Japanese Instagram users reached 17.1 million in August this year, up a whopping 43% on the same month in 2016. This makes Instagram the third most popular social network in Japan, behind first-placed Twitter and second-placed Facebook. In comparison, Twitter grew by 19% to 26.6 million users, and Facebook grew by just 7% to 22.5 million users. When comparing the demographics of Twitter and Instagram users in Japan, the study made some interesting findings. Whilst Twitter has an equal gender split between males and females, Instagram is more popular with women, with 58% of users being female. Furthermore, when looking at age, the study found that Twitter was more popular with younger people. Whilst 68% of young people aged 18 to 29 used Twitter, just 41% of the same age group used Instagram.Â
