Shy internet users are shunning Facebook

Publicity-shy internet users are abandoning Facebook and Instagram for private apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram, according to a study by the analytics company SimilarWeb.

Instagram showed the biggest drop in global usage, down 23.7 per cent year-on-year. Twitter was down 23.4 per cent, Snapchat 15.7 per cent and Facebook by 8 per cent.

In the UK, Instagram saw the biggest drop over the past year, while Snapchat was unusually popular: Britons are the third most prolific users of Snapchat, spending an average of 15 minutes on the app a day. Whatsapp use in the UK lasts for 27 minutes and 30 seconds per session.