Instagram becomes No.1 social networking app in Korea, beating Naver Band

[Graphics by Song Ji-yoon]

Instagram, a photo and video sharing app owned under Meta Platforms, has topped in terms of monthly active users (MAUs) in Korea, beating Korea’s homegrown social media Naver Band for the first time.

According to Mobile Index, IGAWorks’ big data solution, Thursday, Instagram’s MAUs amounted to 18,912,201, ranking first in the category. Naver Band declined to second place with 18,731,396. Instagram overtook Naver Band for the first time after AGAWorks started to compute the MAUs based on Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store data in May 2020.

In the May 2020 count, Naver Band commanded 22,338,201 monthly active users versus Instagram’s 17,371,363. Over the past 26 months, the Korean platform lost 16.1 percent, while the multinational’s increased 8.9 percent.

Instagram’s daily active users last month stood at 10,905,989 on average, adding 40,000 from 10,866,147 in January. Naver Band’s figure recorded 6,820,148, losing 230,000 from 7,049,318 in January.

“Naver Band is a communication app for communities, while Instagram is for sharing photos and videos. As they have different purposes, it is hard to compare them,” said an official from Naver Band.

Although domestic firms used Naver Band for their communication at work in the past, many do not use the app anymore after they developed their internal communication apps, decreasing the app’s monthly active users. On the other hand, Instagram has released new services to attract users, such as its short-form video service Reels.

“We stayed on top for the first six months of the year. Our MAUs in July were temporarily down, along with declining community activities due to holidays and vacations. We plan to develop meet-up services to attract more users,” said an official from Naver Band.

[ㄏ Maeil Business Newspaper & mk.co.kr, All rights reserved]