Instagram Passes 700 Million User Mark

By Edwin Kee
Instagram hits the 700 million users milestone
It took only three months to add the latest 100 million users. Instagram

Social media is something that has taken the world by storm, and it goes to show that humans love to connect with one another, regardless of the kind of medium or method. After all, man is not an island, and the need to commune is something ingrained in all of us since creation. Having said that, it is no surprise that different milestones are reached by various social media companies, and Instagram is one such entity that has achieved a brand new landmark of 700 million users. In fact, the last 100 million Instagrammers who jumped aboard the bandwagon did so faster than ever before.

Sure, making it easier for folks to join up with Instagram would have played a role in hitting this landmark figure, as folks love to share their experiences as well as boost their connections to friends and other passions. There are features such as stories, live video as well as disappearing messages in Direct, enabling the ordinary (wo)man on the street to freely express him or herself, as well as remain connected to what they think matters to them.

When you put things into perspective, the growth of Instagram’s user base is certainly an encouraging one. In fact, they have managed to double their user base from 350 million to 700 million in a matter of just two years. Much of this would obviously be fueled by Stories, in addition to web signups as well as a greater degree of compatibility when it comes to entry level Android-powered handsets. The rate of growth when it comes to Instagram’s user base continues to pick up steam, taking a mere four months for the last 100 million users to sign up, ever since it touched the magical 600 million mark in December last year. Back then, it was half a year before the 600 million figure was reached from 500 million.

For comparison’s sake, Instagram has more than double the number of Twitter users. In due time, it might want to gain entry into the exclusive 1 billion user club that is currently headed by Facebook with 1.8 billion users, and WhatsApp with 1.2 billion. Interestingly enough, WhatsApp belongs to Facebook, and seems to be more popular in other parts of the world other than in North America.

Instagram Stories is seen by many to be a Snapchat clone, but hey, if it works, why not? In fact, Instagram Stories is said to have given a boost to the user account tally, reaching 200 million daily active users in early April 2017, which is certainly far more than the 161 million total daily users that Snap Inc. last announced. This is certainly an arms race of sorts, the throwing of numbers where total users are concerned since investors love to see growth in such companies -- and such users carry the potential of being advertising eyeballs.

700 million is certainly a long way from Instagram’s launch back in October 6, 2010. It then took them 20 months to hit the first 100 million users, and have not looked back ever since. The proliferation of smartphones and decreasing cost of entry has certainly contributed to its growth, not to mention ever more affordable data packages offered by mobile carriers everywhere. However, it does not seem as though Justin Bieber is one of the 700 million users after he claimed that it is 'for the devil'.

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