Instagram is a photo and video-sharing social media application that was launched in 2010.

Today, Instagram has 1.074 billion users worldwide. It has become one of the world’s biggest and most influential social media platforms.

Interesting Story Behind Instagram

In 2010, software engineer Michel Krieger and computer programmer Kevin Systrom founded Instagram.

Former Google employee Systrom developed the idea of Instagram while he was enjoying a holiday with his partner in Mexico. Initially, the social media platform was developed as Burbn, focused on location sharing. Later, the platform was provided with photo-sharing features which eventually gave birth to Instagram.

Kevin Systrom’s partner found that photos taken on her iPhone 4 were not of a standard to share on the platform. That’s how, apply filters to the pictures features came as a solution. It quickly became Instagram’s key selling point.

Within just two years of operation, Facebook bought the company for $1 billion. However, Systrom remained as CEO until 2018. Instagram rapidly gained users and hit 1 billion monthly active users by the end of 2018.

Instagram has grown over the years and it continues to provide various features to broaden its horizon. The photo-sharing social media platform has come a long way from once being a favorite vacation for vacationers sharing their holiday pictures to now appealing to all kinds of influencers, advertisers, and brands.

Why Instagram is So Popular?

As of now, Instagram has an estimated 1.074 billion users worldwide. It allows users to edit both pictures and videos. Once used mainly by teens and young millennials, Instagram continues to grow as one of the most popular social media platforms.

In 2013, Instagram added video-sharing features. Instagram stories were launched in 2016, which allows users to upload short series of pictures of video, which are deleted after 24 hours. Instagram has recently dropped a new feature -Instagram Reels. Likewise TikTok, this new feature lets you edit 15 seconds videos with various effects and audio.

Influencers have become a key demographic for Instagram, and the app has opened up its platform with shopping and other marketing tools to make these popular users more successful. The social media app targets a new way of building a bigger audience.

Some Stats of Instagram

1. Instagram users spend an avergae of 53 minutes per day.
2. 71% of the active users on Instagram are below the age of 35.
3. The average post on Instagram contains 10.7 hashtags.
4. 500 million users use Instagram stories every day.
5. 50% of Instagram users follow at least one business brand.