From their study, they show that while Facebook dropped, Instagram increased (34, 36, and 39% from 2017 - 2019, respectively).
WhatsApp doesn't have tracking data for 2017/18, but 2019 shows it at 18%.
Here's their downloadable presentation with additional info: http://www.edisonresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Inf...
I think the switch to stories had an impact. Positive at first, but negative indirectly, as it introduced the “mute” mechanism. At first you could just do this with stories, but now you can mute someone’s posts while still “following” them.
Before, on instagram, if someone followed you, you really knew they followed you. So people sort of self-policed their posts, as they knew they’d get unfollowed if they were excessive. And there was a lot of engagement on posts, because 100% of followers saw it.
But now you can follow but not follow. So on the one hand some people are pushing more posts, on the other hand you have a lot of non-genuine followers. This discourages posting.
I have more followers but fewer likes than before, and I also follow more people and see less. The platform feels more hollow than it used to, in the same way facebook does.
Also similar to FB, the instagram algorithm is always changing. The fact that your feed is less real-time removes part of the essence of instagram. I liked knowing that my feed was a 1:1 connection to the real world. Now it is less that and more a collection of posts from the people I follow. One of my core ideas around young folks leaving facebook is for the same exact reason.
When you are in grade school, life moments occur everyday and sometimes within a few hours. Think of nailing your first skateboard trick, joining bands, or making the varsity team, etc. Those are all potential posts on any social channel. If you are the consumer of those posts, assuming the same age as the poster, you want to see them in a real-life sequence. It would feel fake or hollow to see the posts (that happened in your school, maybe at your game) contextualized against ads or in a wrong order.
I like it but it’s also being filled with drivel and self-promotion to the point of becoming monotonous.