Social media influencers pick Instagram

In recent years, the popularity of social networks has seen the emergence of the social media influencer. Influencers have large followings on social networks and are often hired by companies to promote their brands.

This type of advertising, which is similar to a product placement in a show or movie, is more personal and less invasive than traditional advertising.

Influencers use a wide variety of social platforms, but a recent survey by influencer platform Zine found that Facebook’s Instagram was the favorite.

Instagram, which had 800 million monthly active users as of last September, offers a simple and visual way for influencers to deliver messages via single photos and short videos.

The total number of influencer posts on Instagram nearly doubled annually to more than 1.5 million posts in 2017, according to influencer marketing firm Klear.

Traditional blogs remain surprisingly relevant, thanks to their dedicated followings.

YouTube, Facebook and Pinterest aren’t attracting influencers. That’s probably because YouTube videos require more time to produce, Facebook’s News Feed prioritizes family and friends and Pinterest is more frequently used for pinning personal interests than following influencers.

Leo Sun has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Facebook. It has the following options: short March 2018 $200 calls on Facebook and long March 2018 $170 puts on Facebook.