Instagram’s major milestone
Digital photo sharing has been around for years, but has become mainstream, with iPhone app Instagr.am leading the pack, creating vintage looks with a quick click, originally adopted by hipsters but now adopted across all demographics.
The app has just hit 25 million users, according to Dirk Singer who blogs about how he discovered through the user numbers assigned upon signup, evident through web viewers for Instagram. Singer is a digital PR professional who has worked with Google, MSN and Yahoo! now heading up digital PR agency, Rabbit.
Instagr.am didn’t put out a press release or host a press conference, no, Singer came across the data and after multiple layers of verification, announced the milestone, which puts the photo app at 3 million more users than Foursquare.
Rapid growth of creativity
The growth of Instagr.am is an indicator in the rise of creativity in every day people, as the app makes photo art approachable to all, and makes photo sharing effortless. There is even now an online art gallery of prints for sale from Instagr.am users, found at HashPix.com.
Foursquare has been around longer and boasts a tremendous number of users, but what should be noted about both of these companies is that user count does not equate to active users. There are millions of Twitter accounts set up, and a large portion of which are not being used. User count is more of a milestone marker than an indicator of success, as some would argue that a user who is not active implies a failed product that did not interest the user for any number of reasons.
The takeaway
Although active users are the ideal benchmark for measurement, it is still impressive that a photo sharing app has done so well and only exists on one device on the market (iPhone) and has dozens of competitors. Creativity is being fostered in a simple app that allows users to create and share photos that are more aesthetically stimulating than a standard smartphone camera shot and personal users and businesses alike are using the app in droves.
