Once upon a time the top trending social media platform behind Facebook was Twitter. #EnterInstagram.
Reaching a major milestone, the popular photo and video sharing app now has 300 million monthly active users who share over 70 million photos each day, compared to Twitter's 284 million monthly active users.
Impressively, Instagram gained more than 100 million new monthly users since March, bringing the company to its 300 million milestone. It currently receives 2.5 billion daily "likes" on average.
Bought by Facebook for $1 billion in 2012, Instagram also announced today that it will take a page from Twitter and start issuing verified accounts. Updating its model to appeal to brands and public figures, the certified badges "will make it easier for people to identify and follow the authentic brands they care about," Instagram says in an email. "When an account is verified, a blue badge will appear next to its name in its profile as well as in search."
And while 70 percent of its users are outside the U.S., the new feature will make it easier for users to discover accounts to follow. "We're seeing a lot of people coming in the fashion world, a lot of people coming in, in the youthful teens world, and a lot of people internationally as well," CEO Kevin Systro says.
Adding the verified badges eliminates fake accounts so that users know that they are following the real celebrity, athlete or reality star. "There are photos pouring in from everywhere in the world. If you're interested in really eclectic topics, I guarantee you there are accounts that are related to that. So we need to make sure to connect you with the content that matters most to you," Systro says.
And getting rid of spam is important as the company moves forward into advertising through its video ads, competing against print and TV ads. However, eliminating fake accounts could cause some brands to see their list of followers decline.
Changes aside, Instagram should not get too excited for beating Twitter in active users. When comparing revenues, Twitter still is way ahead of Instagram, making more than $360 million last quarter.
"I think it's hard to compare Twitter and Instagram," says Stystro. "Twitter has a more mature business. They're public. We've just started monetizing. We have a lot to prove before we're, you know, worth many billions of dollars."
Even if you are #TeamIstagram, it's still okay to retweet this story.
