Instagram Surpasses Twitter With 300 Million Monthly Users

Instagram made an impressive announcement on Wednesday that it now boasts 300 million monthly active users, illustrating a rapid increase of 50% in just nine months. This growth makes the Facebook-owned photo and video sharing app even more popular than Twitter, which had 284 million monthly active users as of the third quarter.

Instagram’s quick ascent is noteworthy for all marketers and businesses who are continuously refining their focus on various social networks and sites to maximize the return on their advertising investments. Running a campaign that is finely tuned to engage Instagram users is a more valuable concept now than ever before.

Whether you are marketing for a car dealership, a rock band, or something in between, Instagram can be utilized to create a massive buzz by enticing users to post photos and videos about your business in order to enter a contest or as a way to receive any other type of discount. Instagram users are highly engaged with the service, with users interacting with posts at a staggering 18 times the rate that they do with Facebook posts, based on a report issued last month by the research firm L2. Considering this incredible level of user engagement, all businesses should be looking carefully at Instagram to determine how they can best use the site to their advantage.

“We’re proud to announce that there are now more than 300 million Instagrammers,” wrote Kevin Systrom, CEO, Instragram. “Over the past four years, what began as two friends with a dream has grown into a global community that shares more than 70 million photos and videos each day. Instragram is home to creativity in all of its forms, a place where you can find everything from images of the Nile River to the newest look from Herschel Supply or a peek inside the mind of Taylor Swift. We’re thrilled to watch this community thrive and witness the amazing connections people make over shared passions and journeys.”

Although Instagram’s rapid growth is highly impressive, it’s not completely surprising. Video posts have become a hot area in social networking. Facebook has been altering its News Feed over the past year to better showcase video content, and Twitter has been increasing its focus on building up its Vine short-video service. A high percentage of advertisers are demanding increased video options, and online services are doing what they can to meet those expectations.

Considering its massive growth, Instagram is now trying to strengthen its authenticity. The company has plans to launch verified badges for celebrities, brands and athletes to try to prevent users from accidentally following parody or tribute accounts. This is a tactic that helped Twitter boost confidence amongst users, and Facebook began to verify profiles in May 2013. To further its move toward authenticity, Instagram says that it will no longer simply deactivate fake accounts, but instead will delete them.

It’s clear that Instagram is growing rapidly in popularity, and it’s highly likely that more and more marketers and businesses will increase their level of attention to the site over the coming period.