Instagrammers are spending more time than ever looking at photos, videos and memes.
In fact, users under the age of 25 now spend more than 32 minutes each day on the platform, the company told CNN Tech. Users age 25 and older use the app for more than 24 minutes.
Facebook-owned Instagram released on Wednesday its time-spent figures for the first time since 2014. At the time, users accessed Instagram for about 21 minutes daily.
The news came on the one-year anniversary of Instagram Stories, a feature long called a Snapchat copycat. Stories are photo and video posts shared by users that disappear after 24 hours. Since then, Instagram has also introduced other Snapchat-like tools, such as face filters for Stories.
Instagram cofounder Mike Krieger responded to criticism surrounding Stories in an interview in New York City on Tuesday.
“We looked at Snapchat,” he told CNN Tech. “They had the Stories format. [But] if we had just plopped it into Instagram in the same way, it wouldn’t have worked.
Krieger said users were already circumventing the product by posting videos and deleting them after a day or creating second accounts. Users refer to this as “finstagrams” — or fake Instagram accounts — for sharing specific content with friends they didn’t deem “Instagram worthy” for their main account.
“We did take this format that was out in the world, but we made it our own by bringing innovations and complementing it with Instagram. I think that’s what made it work.”
The app has also added unique features to Stories like searchable hashtags, the ability to mention other users and Boomerangs (videos that loop back and forth).
Instagram Stories’ popularity continues to grow. In June, the company said the feature had 250 million daily users, up from 200 million in April — and more than Snapchat’s daily user base. In its most recent quarter, Snapchat reported 166 million daily active users.
Instagram’s top location tags for Stories are in Jakarta, Indonesia; São Paulo, Brazil; and New York. Meanwhile, the top viewed Stories producers in the U.S. in ranking order are singer J Balvin, internet celebrity The Fat Jewish, YouTube star Lele Pons, model Emily Ratajkowski and actress Chloe Moretz.
Instagram has also made an effort to make the platform a more welcoming place. In June, it launched a tool that blocks offensive comments and a filter that removes spam in comments.
— CNN Tech’s Laurie Segall contributed to this report.
