Forget Twitter, Instagram becoming 'really hot property'

Photo and video sharing site Instagram is becoming more popular than microblogging site Twitter, a new survey has found.

The survey from the Pew Research Center's Internet Project found that Twitter is neck-and-neck with the Facebook-owned photo application when it comes to their respective audiences.

Pew found that 18 percent of online adults now use Twitter, while 17 percent of online adults now use Instagram.

According to CNET, PEW concluded that Twitter and Instagram have particular appeal to younger adults, urban dwellers and non-whites.

The research firm surveyed 1,445 Internet users aged 18 and above between August and September and found that 73 percent of online adults are social networkers.

Facebook however is at the superior position and counts 71 percent of online adults as users, which is up from 67 percent at the end of 2012

Instagram users are more active than Twitter users.

Around 57 percent of Instagram users visit that service at least once per day, and 35 percent do so several times per day.

In comparison, 46 percent of Twitter users are daily visitors with 29 percent visiting multiple times per day, Pew found.

Pew's findings support the theory that Twitter and Instagram are direct rivals.

Earlier this month, Nielsen ranked Instagram higher than Twitter on its Top 10 list of smartphone applications.

On smartphones, Instagram has an average monthly audience of 32 million people, while Twitter's monthly audience is 30.8 million people.

Instagram also proved to be the fastest-growing app of the year, growing its audience 66 percent year-over-year.