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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."

11 of 32 comments (clear)

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

    19,000

  2. 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

  3. 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.

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

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

  5. 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.
  6. 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.

  7. 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."
  8. 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.