Dive Brief:
- Instagram announced Wednesday it officially has hit 300 million monthly users worldwide, up from 200 million just nine months ago.
- In the wake of the news, Instagram has announced it will start verifying brands and deleting fake or spam accounts. Just like Twitter and Facebook, a 'verified' Instagram account will have a verification badge in the coming days.
- Since Instagram has started wiping out fake, spam, or paraody accounts, many users will likely see their follower number drop. So the app will start sending out notifications why that happened to users that see a shrinkage in that number.
Dive Insight:
The soon-to-be-deleted "fake accounts" don't factor into Instagram's 300 million count, so there is no telling exactly how many accounts actually exist on the app. The verification badges will start rolling out for brands, celebrities, and athletes, and will likely be highly coveted for those looking to brand build.
This number means Instagram is officially bigger—and likely more influential—than Twitter, which has 284 million users. Though with Instagram's current interface, this could run into the problem of an unfiltered feed, with users missing out on posts from their closest friends because of more-share happy users. Facebook has remedied that problem with the 'unfollow' button, and Twitter has several options such as 'mute' and multiple plug-ins that allow for users to categorize who they follow. Though by starting a verification process and wiping out bad actors, the people of Instagram are clearly working hard to optimize the consumer experience, so a solution could be in sight soon.
