Instagram Reaches 300 Million Monthly Users
Posted on December 10, 2014
Instagram says it now has over 300 million monthly users on its photo sharing site. Traffic to the site has been surging. Instagram hit 200 million earlier this in March so that's 100 million new users in only about 9 months time.
Instagram also announced it is adding verified badges so people will know if a celebrity account is authentic. Twitter also does this through verified accounts. Celebrity accounts, like Taylor Swift's, have helped make Instagram popular. Celebrities also helped fuel Twitter's growth in its early years.
Taylor Swift, frequently shares photos on Instagram which likely generates lots of traffic. She shared the above photograph of her meeting singer Ariana Grande. They both performed at the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in London. Taylor says in the caption for the photo, "Oh my God she couldn't be cuter."
Instagram says it has been regularly deactivating spammy accounts. It now plans to permanently delete these accounts. Some Instagram users will probably see a drop in followers when these happens.
TechCrunch has a chart here showing Instagram's rapid rise from 1 million users in late 2010 to over 300 million users today. It won't be a surprise if Instagram reaches half a million users in late 2015.