Hey, it made our apple look pretty cool.

Today’s social media engagement analysis by ComScore makes us think that Facebook’s Instagram purchase may have been far smarter than many thought at the time.

Turns out that American smartphone owners used Instagram more often, and for longer periods of time, than they used Twitter last month. What does this finding mean?

Well, it makes Instagram much more attractive to advertisers, because greater engagement means users are more likely to see ads—and pay attention to them. Instagram is currently “focused mainly on product development” and is “not pursuing marketing or advertising opportunities” at the time, but “this may change” soon. In light of this new report, advertisers will be lining up to hawk their wares on the photo app.

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Skanz makes customized QR codes.

A new Forrester Research study finds that more people are using QR codes now than they were last year. According to the research, five percent of adults use two-dimensional codes, including QR codes, versus one percent last year. When you only take smartphone users into account, 15 percent of respondents are using the codes, up from five percent last year. Android owners are the biggest users.

This information comes right after companies began rolling out their QR programs for the holiday shopping season.

As with any other marketing program, having a sound strategy before you get QR crazy is the best route.

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Jay-Z made an appearance last night at the Delano South Beach hotel in Miami to promote his memoir Decoded, which will be released November 16.

At the event, he unveiled a page from the book as part of an online scavenger hunt. Participants are competing for the chance to go to a New Year’s Eve Jay-Z concert in Las Vegas.

According to Droga 5‘s creative chairman, David Droga, pages will be revealed in traditional as well as offbeat places, such as billboards and the bottom of a hotel pool, which you can see in the video above. Jay-Z’s explanation of his song “Most Kingz” is available via GalleyCat.

The promotion is part of a partnership with Bing, which, according to Daily Finance is also hoping to benefit mightily from the effort. According to numbers quoted from ComScore, 11.2 percent of total searches take place through Bing, versus 16.7 percent through Yahoo, and a whopping 66.1 percent through Google. This despite a big marketing push when it launched.