WhatsApp is continually rising as a leading social media platform for sharing news.

Although Facebook remains the most popular, WhatsApp has really impressed as one of the prevailing ways people discover and discuss news, according to a study.

The percentage of users vary in different countries as more than 50% of those surveyed said they used WhatsApp for news at least once a week. But in the US, the figure was only 3%, and in the UK it was 5%.

The study also added that the use of Facebook for news had dipped in more than half of all the territories where a year-on-year comparison was possible.

By contrast, sharing news stories and chatting about them appears to be on the rise within private instant messaging apps, and WhatsApp in particular.

WhatsApp is now the second most popular social service for news in nine of the 36 locations, and the third most popular platform in a further five countries.