Instagram, the popular smartphone app for sharing photos and video, has announced that it has passed 400 million active monthly users.
The important milestone comes as more established social media brands, such as Twitter, struggle to maintain their previously impressive growth trajectories.
In fact, Instagram has now overtaken Twitter, which has 316 million active monthly users, according to its website.
Instagram has brought on 100 million new users in the past 9 months, with 75 per cent of total users now outside the US.
“Instagrammers continue to capture incredible photos and videos from all corners of the earth (and even the solar system),” the company said in a statement posted on its press page.
“We’ve seen inspiring moments like the first surface image of Pluto and Champions League celebrations, as well as striking locales like the white pools of Turkey and a Namibian desert ghost town. These are just a few of the more than 80 million photos per day shared on Instagram.”
Instagram’s growth potential and popularity with young, mobile users prompted Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to snap it up for USD $1 billion in 2012.
While that seemed like a lot of money at the time for a smartphone app with 30 million users, the growth Instagram has enjoyed since makes it look like a bargain.
Overtaking Twitter is a significant moment for Instagram and in the brief history of social media. Twitter is regularly mentioned the same breath as Facebook, even though the micro-blogging site has always been a distant second in terms of users and revenue.
Announcing the company’s second quarter results last month, Twitter’s interim CEO Jack Dorsey admitted that year-on-year growth had been unsatisfactory.
Once the social media darling, Twitter has even been discussed as a potential acquisition target as the company struggles to attract new users and stay ahead of younger, faster-growing rivals.
Instagram by the numbers…
1 million: users in December 2010, two months after official launch
30 million: users in September 2012 when Facebook acquired the company
300 million: users in December last year
400 million: users now
80 million: photos shared every day on Instagram
3.5 billion: total likes per day
47.9 million: number of Instagram users following Taylor Swift
$1 billion: price Facebook paid to acquire Instagram in 2012
$35 billion: Citigroup’s December 2014 valuation
16: percentage of total Asia Pacific internet users on Instagram
