Instagram Outpacing Twitter, Hits 300 Million Monthly User Milestone

Chuck Bednar for redOrbit.com – Your Universe Online
Instagram has reportedly added 100 million members since March, a 50 percent growth over the last nine months, and the photo-sharing service now has a base of more than 300 million active users each month.
That means that the service, which was acquired by Facebook in 2012, now averages more active users each month than Twitter, according to Bloomberg Businessweek reporter Sarah Frier. As of the quarter ending September 30, Twitter said that an average of 284 million members were currently using the microblogging website each month.
In addition, Frier noted that Robert W Baird & Co. analyst Colin Sebastian has reported that Instagram is adding an average of 360,000 new active users each day compared to just 160,000 for Twitter, and re/code’s Kurt Wagner added that the company said those users of the service are posting an average of 70 million new images every day.
Twitter declined Bloomberg’s request for comment on the report, but Frier said that the San Francisco-based social media website “has recently been on a campaign to promote its prospects after several quarters of slowing user growth and questions about whether it can ever reach the scale of Facebook, which has about 1.3 billion members.”
“Monthly active user count at Twitter rose 23 percent in the third quarter, down from 24 percent growth the prior quarter,” she added. As for Instagram, the company said that approximately 70 percent of its current users now reside outside of the US (an increase from 65 percent in March) and a total of over 30 billion photos have now been shared using the app.
The company is also looking to launch a verification service for people as well as brands, and as on Twitter and Facebook, those accounts that have been authenticated will receive a blue badge to prove they are the real deal. The company also said it would look to improve its service by deleting fake accounts.
“As more people join, keeping Instagram authentic is critical,” CEO Kevin Systrom said in a statement. “We’re committed to doing everything possible to keep Instagram free from the fake and spammy accounts that plague much of the web, and that’s why… we’ve been deactivating spammy accounts from Instagram on an ongoing basis to improve your experience.”
“Instagram 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,” he added. “We’re thrilled to watch this community thrive and witness the amazing connections people make over shared passions and journeys.”
Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion two years ago, according to Reed Albergotti of The Wall Street Journal, and considering that venture capitalists have valued other social networks at approximately $40 per user, that would mean the photo-sharing website’s growth is currently worth roughly $12 billion.
“Perhaps more important, it has kept teen users within Facebook’s ecosystem. As Facebook has matured, its youngest users are spending more time on other, newer mobile apps; Instagram has been a popular option,” Albergotti added, with Systrom noting he believed the service could “continue to engage generations of people that may not be on Facebook yet.”
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