Photo sharing platform Instagram has hit one billion monthly active users since its launch in 2010. Instagram announced that it has reached one billion monthly active users, after passing 800 million in September 2017 with 500 million daily users, dwarfing the stagnant growth rates of Snapchat and Facebook.
While Snapchat’s daily user count grew just 2.13 percent in Q1 2018 to 191 million, and Facebook’s monthly count grew 3.14 percent to reach 2.196 billion, Instagram is growing closer to 5 percent per quarter.
Hitting the 1 billion user milestone could put pressure on Instagram to carry its weight in the Facebook family and bring home more cash. Facebook doesn’t break out Instagram’s revenue and has never given any guidance about it.
In the same vein, the platform has also announced a standalone app for watching the long-form vertical video called IGTV. This is coming at the same time that its parent company, Facebook, is working on a similar initiative.
The app will automatically begin playing videos from people you follow, along with personalized recommendations from elsewhere in Instagram. It was not immediately clear when the app would be available for download.
According to Kevin Systrom, Co-Founder & CEO, “IGTV will be rolling out globally over the next few weeks on Android and iOS. IGTV is different in a few ways. First, it’s built for how you actually use your phone, so videos are full screen and vertical. Also, unlike on Instagram, videos aren’t limited to one minute. Instead, each video can be up to an hour long.”
The IGTV platform within Instagram and standalone app began rolling out globally yesterday on Android and iOS, and, according to Instagram, should be available to all users over the next few weeks.