Yes, however: Its worth noting that CrowdTangle does not measure engagement from individual pages– only interactions on posts from pages that come from public figures, groups, publishers, business, etc. Its data represents just part of whats actually shared and engaged with, however it helps to highlight major trends across both platforms.
The huge picture: The 50 greatest voices on Instagram created 4x more engagement than the 50 biggest on Facebook over the last month. And these numbers dont even include the huge engagement that Instagram Stories generate.
There are significant distinctions in how the two platforms are utilized, which add to the prevailing political attitudes.
Instagram, which was created 10 years ago specifically with a focus on culture and developers, has a list of top accounts that is dominated by sports, entertainment, meme and celebrity accounts– not politics. A handful of leading accounts have a strong liberal viewpoint regardless of not being explicitly political.
The Shade Room, which regularly presses anti-Trump messages, produced 276 million interactions over the last month– 4x more than Fox News on Facebook.
The Instagram account Feminist has actually generated 46% more interactions than Fox News on Facebook.
On Facebook, link posts and tough news control, while on Instagram, hashtags get more traction. And political commentary on Instagram typically happens through photoshops, edited videos and initial graphics rather than reactions to headings.
” Facebook leans more into tough news,” Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, stated in an interview with Axios on Oct. 5. Mosseri keeps in mind that Facebook includes the ability to post links to stories that take users offsite.
” Social motions absolutely exist on Instagram,” he said. “The platform provides itself more naturally to specific voices instead of wire service.”
There was 36% more engagement on the top 50 accounts posting about “Black Lives Matter” on Instagram versus Facebook in the past 30 days, and nearly 3x as much about “climate change.”
By contrast, interactions on the leading accounts that used “Make America Great Again” were more than two times as high up on Facebook compared to Instagram during the very same duration.
There is also more civic engagement on Instagram: Top posts for “register to vote” created 14x more interactions on Instagram than Facebook throughout this time.
Information: CrowdTangle; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon/Axios
Be smart: Facebook has taken heat over the fact that a number of its most-engaged accounts belong to conservative voices. 4 of the five Facebook accounts with the most engagement over the past month belong to President Trump, Fox News, Breitbart and Ben Shapiro, per CrowdTangle data.
Between the lines: A generational divide in between the platforms assists to explain the political use. While many younger voters keep Facebook accounts, they invest more time and engage more deeply on Instagram.
Go deeper: Instagram morphs into a details powerhouse
While Facebook continues to take heat over being a tinderbox for conservative media, data reveals that liberal, civically engaged voices are triumphing on Instagram– and the engagement is even higher there than on Facebook.
Why it matters: The politics playing out on Instagram reflect a more youthful, more progressive generation. Lots of have left Facebook to their moms and dads.
Whats going on: A series of data from the Facebook-owned social media metrics platform CrowdTangle reveals that liberal-leaning messaging flourishes on Instagram and that the leading accounts produce much more engagement than on Facebook.
