Instagram reaches 500 million monthly active users
Social networking site has 80 % of its users outside the US
- Majority of revenue from Facebook-owned company still comes from the States
Instagram's base of users is growing quickly throughout the planet, with the photo and video sharing application reaching 500 million monthly active users, it was announced on Tuesday.
The app, which is owned by Facebook, has over 80% of its users located outside the United States, but the majority of their revenue still comes from the area.
Borrowing parent company Facebook’s growth strategy, Instagram is making a big push globally to attract a larger audience. The company oversees a team of community editors in international markets to “put the finger on the pulse of these markets and help us understand what we should be doing to scale locally,” Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom told Time magazine.
According to eMarketer, around 85% of the company's revenue is set to be taken from the US this year. It has taken in $1.53 billion in global mobile ad revenue in 2016, which is a 144% increase year-over-year.
Under the control of Mark Zuckerberg, the picture sharing service has seen massive growth in their size, with only 30 million active users being signed up when the takeover was completed in April 2012.
"This is a tribute to [co-founders] Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger's vision, and to people everywhere who have opened a window into their world — from big events to everyday moments. Thanks for making Instagram such a beautiful place," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted on Facebook Tuesday.