Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Instagram Hits 500 Million Users (time.com)

Posted by msmash on from the attraction-among-many dept.

Instagram announced on Tuesday that it has reached 500 million monthly users. The Facebook-owned photo sharing service also said that 300 million users check the service everyday. To recall, Instagram had hit 400M users about nine months ago. From a Time report: "It's a big milestone for us because we set to create a community, not just a photo-sharing app," Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom tells TIME in an exclusive interview. "One of the things we said early on is that everyone can create a photo-sharing app, but not everyone can build a community that lasts. And [these 500 million users] are not in silos. They are all interacting with each other. It's a global community, with over 80% of those people outside of the United States."

32 comments

  1. 80% of those people outside the United States by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So... not a community then.

    1. Re: 80% of those people outside the United States by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think he means online community. But regardless you make no sense unless your trying to say that only people in the US are capable of forming a community. In which I have news for you, even our animal friends such as Dogs are community focused animals as they travel in packs ðYZ

    2. Re: 80% of those people outside the United States by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the United States the mentality is everyone for himself so I don't even understand how they can form communities.

    3. Re:80% of those people outside the United States by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      This is a different meaning of the word. It means people who will generate content for free while we make money mining their data and selling them ads.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
  2. And 99% of them are too young (T&C) by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    All those children sending each other photos, with a handful of desperate celeb's trying to keep themselves relevant. Make the service £$1/year and they'll be back to < 1x10^6 users.

  3. Apples to apples by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow, this cancer has metastasized quite effectively. And a time magazine article, no less! This post is a trifecta of industry-bullshit.

  4. Half a billion idiots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Wow...

  5. But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    How many daily active users?

    1. Re:But... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      19,000

  6. I like Twitter Better by mschwanke97402 · · Score: 1

    Because I can call all those people TWITS. I haven't figured what to call Instagram folk yet.

    1. Re:I like Twitter Better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Because I can call all those people TWITS. I haven't figured what to call Instagram folk yet.

      C.U.N.T.S.
      I'll figure out what that stands for later

    2. Re:I like Twitter Better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I haven't figured what to call Instagram folk yet.

      I'm partial to moronigrammatons.

    3. Re:I like Twitter Better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is it really necessary to have a derogatory name for groups of people who like to do things that you don't? If so, I propose to call the group that you're a member of "assholes."

    4. Re: I like Twitter Better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Nerds can't get into their dandruff-ridden heads the fact that Real People are interested in things they do not understand, and that Real People are not even remotely interested - rather often disgusted - by the crap nerds like.

    5. Re:I like Twitter Better by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No it's not necessary but I do feel compelled to. Much the same way some people feel compelled to share every little boring detail of their lives via social media.

  7. Someday... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Someday I'll get the point of picture sharing services, like Instagram, Snapchat, or Moments.

    To me, it's pretty simple:

    1. Take picture(s)
    2. Retouch lightning and/or gamma correction on Photoshop
    3. Post to Facebook so my friends can see

    I'm not a pro photographer, I don't lead a very interesting life, and I'm not photogenic at all.

    Why do so many people enjoy these services so much?

    1. Re:Someday... by 0100010001010011 · · Score: 1

      Your process takes much, much longer.

      And while I don't use Instagram or Moments. I use Snapchat all the time to share short clips of my son with aunts and uncles. Stuff that doesn't need to permanently be on Facebook.

  8. Really? by Vegan+Cyclist · · Score: 2

    Given how clumsy it is to actually communicate or interact with others on IG (and do people actually read longer posts?), the poor interface (at least on Android), and lack of useful feature (like the crappy search) I don't think that whoever's running IG actually came up with anything special to 'build community', I just think it's the one the most people glommed onto.

    I'd even also argue there isn't that much of a 'community', so much as people checking to see what their favourite celebrities or businesses have posted. At least that's my experience as a Canadian - are there really even any IG 'communities' to speak of? On Twitter, for example, there are weekly 'chats' using a hashtag allowing people to interact and actually build some comradery, I can't see anything like that happening on IG...what exactly have they don't to 'build community'? If I see something on IG worth talking about, I'll usually go to another platform to discuss it.. My two cents anyway..

    1. Re:Really? by garcia · · Score: 1

      While all of your points are quite valid, there is definitely a lot of community on IG and, as someone who recently stopped using it due to the changes to the feed planned by Facebook, I definitely miss seeing local photographers sharing their work and helping each other get better at their craft.

  9. are they really not in silos? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And [these 500 million users] are not in silos

    I admit I have never used "instagram". But I have experience with people sending me links to Facebook which I could not view because I did not have a Facebook account. (And would eat my own left foot before I created). That sounds exactly like siloing the formerly open internet, to me.

    Given that Facebook owns Instagram, if it's not that way already, I would expect it to become so.

    These massive social media companies do NOT want the model of the internet we've had since the 1970s. They want it all locked up behind their walls, so you must give them your personal information before viewing anything. They are the antithesis of an open internet.

    Captcha: scourge

    1. Re:are they really not in silos? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      In the end those massive social companies will have what they want. One way or another. There is no stopping them. When they finally succeed, where do you want to be? Outside or inside? Better to be part of the change than having to submit.

  10. We don't need no sarcastic memes by jabberw0k · · Score: 1

    All in all it's just another Silo in the Cloud.

  11. Or by mongothesecond · · Score: 1

    Enough fraud occurred on Instagram for automated bots to be pointed at it for preventive detection. Viola, more traffic.

    1. Re:Or by Opportunist · · Score: 2

      And here I was hoping for more music.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  12. And 492,000,000 accounts are ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    And 492,000,000 accounts are run by russian porno spammers.
    Then I peeve on the other 8 million LA wannabees

  13. They need be stopped! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I can understand smacking around a few of the dumbest users, but hitting 500 million people is excessive!

  14. nitpicking, but.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm guessing that's 500M accounts, not users. I don't think the separate account your daughter set up for her guinea pig should count as a separate user.

  15. Users vs unique users by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They aren't the same...

  16. ACCOUNTS or USERS? by eepok · · Score: 2

    Serious question... because I have a hard time believing that 7% of the world population uses Instagram at least once per month. Of course, I have no problem believing that a lot of unique people have multiple accounts and that there are a number of companies out there with 100s of thousands of bot accounts.

  17. Social Networks not media by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    You mean via social networks.