Instagram has been a success in my book when it comes in being a social network. It grew from being an iOS app which allows yo to add filters to being acquired by Facebook for a billion dollars. It quickly became very popular when it was launched in Android and grew to 300 million active users and later on 400 million users (officially surpassing Twitter)
Now the company has announced another milestone to add to their cap where now the social network has surpassed the 500 million active user mark. Instagram has managed to gain 100 million active users in the last 9 months which is no mean feat in a time where we are seeing more social networks popping up and the current ones reaching their peak. “Our community also continues to become even more global,” the company said in a blogpost, “with more than 80% living outside of the United States.”
Withing that time, Instagram has made major strides and it is not the same app it was 9 months ago. They ditched the previous chronologically arranged feed for an algorithmically powered timeline at the beginning of this month which a lot of people protested against. Instagram also introduced new tools for businesses to populate your feed with ads and also had a major UI change that included a completely new icon. Thanks to its growing advertiser base of over 200,000, it has become an important cash cow for Facebook and since it is still growing, Instagram will continue to have a major influence in the Facebook ecosystem
