Instagram Claims 500 Million Users

In a post Tuesday to his account, Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company’s Instagram photo-sharing app now has more than 500 million global monthly users, including 300 million users every day. Facebook acquired Instagram for $1 billion back in 2012.

Instagram had about 30 million users at the time it was acquired by Facebook, a number that has grown by an order of magnitude since then. More than 80% of Instagram users live outside the United States, according to a recent story in the Financial Times.

While Instagram’s 300 million daily users pales somewhat compared with Facebook’s one 1.1 billion daily active users, Instagram is expected to contribute 15% to the company’s revenue total in 2016.

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Instagram has doubled in size over the past two years, according to Zuckerberg’s post, and he goes on to give props to Instagram’s founders:

This is a tribute to 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.

Instagram may be beautiful, as Zuckerberg says, but that does not necessarily mean that the window to a user’s world needs to be open all the time. The photo of Zuckerberg that accompanies his post shows him at (presumably) his desk with an open laptop that has the camera opening blocked with tape. The microphone jack is apparently also blocked with tape. Do what I say, not what I do.

Like Google’s — now Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOGL) — $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube in 2006, Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram has paid off handsomely. In April, analysts at Credit Suisse forecast that Instagram would contribute $3.2 billion (about 15%) to Facebook’s total 2016 revenues.

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