LEADERBOARD • CONSUMER TECH By Jamila Gandhi
A Decade Of Instagram
Data firm Statista projects that Instagram will surpass 988 million monthly active users by 2023, up from 855 million in 2019. Keen to make the most of their attention, in 2018 the platform hosted 3.7 million brand-sponsored influencer posts. Celebrities have also raked in millions from the social network. According to the Instagram Rich List 2020 compiled by HopperHQ, Dwayne Johnson currently reigns as the highest-paid individual poster globally, charging just over $1 million for an Instagram post. Here’s a look at some of the highlights of the company’s meteoric rise over the years.
On October 6, 2010, 2010 the Instagram app was launched for iOS, seven months after founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger received $500,000 seed funding from Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. By December, the platform had a million users, according to TechCrunch. F O R B E S M I D D L E E A S T.CO M
In January, 2011 the social network added hashtags to help users discover photographs and other accounts. A month later, Instagram raised nearly $7 million in Series A funding from a cohort of investors.
Mid-year, the 2013 platform introduced video-sharing of clips up to 15-seconds long. By December, Instagram launched its Direct feature to allow users to send photos to specific people directly from the app. In the fourth 2015 quarter of the year, the platform hit 400 million monthly active users and launched the Boomerang feature – a silent video that plays forwards and reverses in a loop. In March, Instagram 2016 controversially switched its feed from chronological to algorithmically-driven posts first. In May, where the app’s
new icon showcased a simpler camera, and the rainbow switched to a gradient form. At the same time, Instagram announced new business tools to see audience demographics, post impressions, and reach. In August, the app launched Instagram Stories, inspired by Snapchat’s disappearing stories feature. Three months later, it introduced live video, which allows users to broadcast live for up to an hour. By year-end, Instagram had 600 million active users. In a bid to compete 2018 against YouTube, Instagram launched IGTV in June, enabling users to upload videos of up to 1 hour. By the month-end, the platform had hit a billion monthly active users. Both Instagram founders, Systrom and Krieger, quit the company in September. To compete against viral 2020 short-form video app TikTok, Instagram launched Reels in August, its own short-form in-app video feature. In November, the app added a Shop tab to foster a seamless connection between brands, creators and customers. DECEMBER 2020
Matt Winkelmeyer / Getty Images via AFP
Mark Zuckerberg’s 2012 Facebook acquired Instagram for around $1 billion in cash and stock in April. In the same month, the app raised $500 million from venture capitalists for a share of the company, hit 50 million monthly active users, and launched for Android phones. A new Explore page was also added to the app, enabling users to find accounts and content to engage with.
Instagram founder Kevin Systrom
LEADERBOARD •
CONSUMER TECH
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In the decade since it launched in 2010, Instagram has transformed from its humble beginnings as a photo-sharing app to a necessity for businesses, celebrities, and social initiatives.
