Instagram has overtaken Twitter in terms of active users, the Facebook-owned photo app has revealed. According to a company blog post, Instagram currently has more than 300 million active users sharing over 70 million photographs and videos daily, eclipsing the the 284 million monthly users claimed by Twitter at the end of October.
The active user milestone comes just over nine months after Facebook revealed Instagram hit 200 million monthly active users, with the 300 million figure double the 150 million quoted in September last year. "We're thrilled to watch this community thrive and witness the amazing connections people make over shared passions and journeys," writes Instagram CEO Kevin Systrom.
At the same time as celebrating the high user numbers, Systrom revealed Instagram is going to borrow a feature from Twitter. Verfied badges for celebrities, athletes, and brands will be applied to authenticated accounts over the next few days, "making it easier for you to connect with the authentic accounts you're looking for."
Finally, Systrom advises that users may see a sudden drop in follower accounts. As part of efforts to deactivate accounts used for spam, Instagram is going to be deleting the accounts completely, with legitimate accounts affected by suddenly-lowered follower numbers provided with more information about the change via an in-app notification.
