Most People Still, in 2020, Aren’t Aware Facebook Owns Instagram

Results of a national tech survey find that a relatively small percentage of people are aware Facebook owns Instagram.

The Verge surveyed Americans to find out which big tech companies are the most trusted and which ones, if any, should be broken up.

Within that data is a finding about Americans’ knowledge of who owns what with regards to big tech companies being owned by other big tech companies.

According to results of the survey:

  • 47% of respondents know Google owns YouTube
  • 38% of respondents know Facebook owns Instagram
  • 29% of respondents know Facebook owns WhatsApp
  • 12% of respondents know Amazon owns Twitch

It’s interesting that, nearly 8 years after Facebook acquired Instagram, a majority of people are unaware that the two companies are under the same umbrella.

In fact, it’s not uncommon these days to hear people renounce Facebook while in the same breath vowing to only use Instagram. Anecdotally speaking, those people are often surprised to learn they’re still playing in Facebook’s sandbox when they post selfies to Instagram.

Facebook has been making an effort to create more awareness of the properties it owns. This past November, Facebook took on a rebranding effort which saw the company adding “from Facebook” to Instagram and WhatsApp.

Despite a majority of survey respondents not knowing Instagram and Facebook are connected, their sentiments toward the two companies are relatively similar. According to results of The Verge’s survey, Instagram and Facebook have a favorability rating of 72% and 71% respectively.

By comparison, Amazon and Google have the highest ratings at 91% and 90%. Twitter is sitting dead last with a favorability rating of just 61%.

For more data like this, see the full survey results from The Verge.

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