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Instagram head Adam Mosseri says the company is looking to improve the app\u2019s search functionality, admitting this is an area where Instagram could do more to compete. The remarks, made on a recent episode<\/a> of the \u201cBuild Your Tribe\u201d podcast, come at a time when younger Gen Z users often turn to social apps like TikTok for answers, instead of using traditional search engines.<\/p>\n Instagram is in that mix, too, of course, but it knows its position could be stronger.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0\u2026 starting to invest more in search on Instagram because there\u2019s so much amazing content,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd quite frankly, what we call content search \u2014 as opposed to searching for an account, actually searching for some type of content \u2014 it\u2019s not very good on Instagram.\u201d<\/p>\n The exec noted that part of the problem was that the team working on Instagram search has been small, but Meta recently \u201cstrengthened\u201d that team with the goal of rolling out more improvements on this front over the months and years ahead. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a long road, but I do think that could also be a really good one for people who are looking for things. You can imagine, whatever you use Instagram for, it\u2019d be great to be able to find \u2018that\u2019 more easily,\u201d Mosseri said. \u201cBut also for creators\u00a0\u2026 it should allow content to resurface so that you don\u2019t get all the value in those first 24 or 48 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n The way that Gen Z and younger users search for content is something that\u2019s been in flux for some time. <\/p>\n Google identified how the problem was affecting its own future as a search provider when, back in 2022, a Google exec suggested that social apps like TikTok and Instagram were eating into its core business<\/a>, including Search and Maps.<\/p>\n Last fall, TikTok began to more directly compete with Google\u2019s ad business by allowing its advertisers to target its search results page<\/a>. <\/p>\n Various market research studies have also confirmed this shift in how younger people use the internet and web search, to different degrees. In one U.S. study, for example, Instagram topped Google Search and other rivals as Gen Z\u2019s preferred search engine<\/a>.<\/p>\n But this is still a close race and not one that Instagram has necessarily won.<\/p>\n A Bernstein Research study<\/a> cited by Fortune<\/a> in April 2024 found that 45% of Gen Zers are more likely to use social media for searches, and a 2024 HerCampus study cited in eMarketer <\/a>found that 51% of Gen Zers favor TikTok over Google Search, primarily for its short-form video format.<\/p>\n Mosseri\u2019s comments indicate that Meta knows the next frontier where Instagram needs to compete is as a search engine, not just a social network for keeping up with friends. <\/p>\n Only a \u201cvery small percentage\u201d of average users (non-creators) post to Instagram\u2019s Feed on a given day, he also said, adding that this part of Instagram is becoming \u201cmuch more of a public domain.\u201d Stories and DMs (direct messages), meanwhile, are where users interact with their friends. <\/p>\n Another area where Instagram aims to compete with TikTok on search is the recommended searches that appear at the top of the comments section. <\/p>\n On TikTok, the suggested search is extracted from what people are talking about in the comments. That\u2019s something Instagram wants to improve, too.<\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, where the real interesting context is not\u00a0\u2026 in the video that someone uploaded, but in the context around it \u2014 which is almost always in the comments. And so what we\u2019re trying to do is surface that more easily, and then you can go and find out more,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n He noted that the version of Instagram\u2019s app that looks more toward the comments to enhance search suggestions is coming out \u201csoon.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n