The political potential of Instagram

WASHINGTON - Twitter and Facebook are old news; Instagram is where it's at. And that matters, politically speaking.

While much of the political world and official Washington converses on Twitter and the Obama campaign in 2012 revolutionized how Facebook is used in campaigns, neither is as ascendant as Instagram.

In fact, according to a Pew study, the photo-sharing service surpassed Twitter as far as total users in 2014. While 23 percent of Americans now use Twitter, 26 percent use Instagram - up from 17 percent in 2013 and 13 percent in 2012.

And the fast increase in users comes among many of the most important demographics in the 2016 election.

Racial minorities are much more likely to use Instagram than whites. While 38 percent of African Americans and 34 percent of Latinos are on Instagram, just 21 percent of whites are.

And Instagram use also skews very young, with 53 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds on it. That's up from 37 percent just a year prior, and no other group uses it even half as much.

No other social media platform skews as heavily toward these key groups - all three of which will be key to whether Democrats can replicate the so-called "Obama coalition" in 2016. (The other leg of that coalition is unmarried women; and Instagram is more popular among women than men, too.)

While Democrats need to get these groups to vote for their next presidential candidate like they did for Obama, Republicans have also placed an emphasis on reaching out to these groups and expanding the party's brand.

If those numbers are any indication, both parties would be well-served to figure out how Instagram can help them in that effort. Of course, that's far easier said than done.