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Instagram remains the most popular social media platform among Koreans, a recent survey shows.

According to a study conducted last year by the Korea Information Society Development Institute, a state-funded think tank, 48.6 percent of 9,757 people surveyed said they use the image-sharing app regularly as it widened its lead as the most beloved social media service in the country.

The second most popular one was Facebook (16.7 percent), followed by Band (13.1 percent) operated by Korean search giant Naver, KakaoStory (10.2 percent) run by its local rival and X (7.7 percent), formerly known as Twitter.

The gap between the market leader and the rest was smaller in 2021. According to the think tank's study that year, 31.5 percent said they used Instagram, with Facebook (28.6 percent) and KakaoStory (17.6 percent) not far behind.

The results this year show that Instagram is especially favored by young people. While 66.9 percent of Gen Zers said they are regular users of the app, 57 percent of millennials said so.

The study also found that the younger they are, the more time they spend on social media, checking or sharing other people's posts and creating their own.

"The SNS (social networking service) usage rate of Millennials and Generation Z continues to increase, while it has recently begun to decrease in Generation X and Baby Boomers. More than half of Generation Z and Millennials prefer Instagram, while Generation X and Baby Boomers appear to be using various platforms," the report says. "The average time spent on SNS per day on weekdays for Generation Z is 55 minutes, which is more than twice that of the Baby Boomers (22 minutes)."

Interestingly, the survey also shows that only 3 percent of respondents said they are regular users of TikTok, a Chinese app that had enjoyed a surge in user number in recent years.