Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announces Instagram’s growth to three billion users, crediting creativity and Reels for driving expansion.
Instagram has grown to three billion Monthly Active Users, the CEO of Meta, Mark Zuckerberg, revealed on Wednesday, marking another milestone for one of the most popular social media apps in the world.
Meta last disclosed Instagram’s user figures in 2022 when Zuckerbergs aid the app had hit more than two billion monthly active users.
“This is a big moment for the global community, just ahead of Instagram’s 15th birthday. Instagram has always been about creativity, and continues to stand for that. From DMing your friends memes, to watching Reels that only you get, keeping up with all your favorite creators, or posting your creative moments, Instagram is the place to connect with friends,” Meta stated in a note on Wednesday.
Meta, previously known as Facebook, bought Instagram for $1 billion in 2012, a move that had raised questions about the company’s strategy as the social media app had begun with just photo-sharing without significant revenue, according to Reuters.
Since then the app has grown astronomically, and some firms have estimated it will make up more than half of Meta’s U.S. ad revenue this year.
A major factor contributing to Instagram’s success is the Reels feature, which was launched in 2020 and allows users to create short-form content – a market that faces fierce competition from rivals such as TikTok and Google-owned YouTube shorts.
TikTok, owned by Chinese technology behemoth ByteDance, has more than 1 billion users globally who visit monthly, a company spokesperson said earlier this month.
Meta, revealed that few things Instagram is exploring in the next few months aimed at connecting people over creativity include, “A new way for you to have more control over your Reels algorithm, by letting us know what topics you want to see more and less of.
“A simplified navigation so you can easily swipe from Home feed > Reels > Messages. • Testing a reels-first mobile experience in India and South Korea, where people can dive right into entertaining content, and go to a Following tab to catch up with content from the people they follow. This looks like our new iPad experience. We’ll learn from this country test before expanding elsewhere.”
