Instagram has exceeded 2 billion users

This is despite the fact that the director of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, was testifying in Congress this week. Despite all the controversies that accompany Instagram, he breaks one record after another. This autumn, it managed to gain up to 2 billion monthly users. The report is provided by CNBC.

Despite the controversies, Instagram has 2 billion users a month

Instagram does not publish its statistics often. The last time it did so was in June 2018, when the platform reached 1 billion users a month. The social network was established in 2010 and. in 2012, it was bought by Zuckerberg for 1 billion. It gained the first billion users in 8 years, the next in just three.

“That’s a pretty significant annual growth rate for users,” said David Heger, an analyst at Edward Jones. Heger adds that this rate of expansion is important given the current threat of a similarly focused TikTok platform. “It says that despite TikTok’s recent call, Instagram is still definitely relevant to people,” said Heger.

TikTok has 596.1 million downloads on the AppStore and Google Play combined, which is more than Instagram’s 570.7 million. Of course, TikToku did it in a much shorter time than Instagram. Aware of this threat, Zuckerberg did what he often does – copying their best function – short videos. He did a similar thing even earlier when Snapchat came with his stories.

Meta also wants to get Reels on Facebook and make them a major part of their Facebook and Instagram platforms. This is mainly to attract users aged 18-29.

Attracting children is ice skating

Of course, the regulators, who have had Facebook and Instagram for a long time, don’t like that. Because both platforms are known for their benevolent user data protection policies.

In September, a series of articles were published in the Wall Street Journal, based on documents from Whistleblower and a former employee, Frances Haugen. They also say, for example, that the platform is aware of the impact on the mental health of young users, but does nothing about it.

Subsequently, there was a response from regulators who banned Instagram from continuing to develop the product for minors – thirteen and younger. The company said it would suspend development but not end it.

Members of the Senate compare the practices of technology companies to the practices of tobacco companies. At the time, they said, “Trust us and we’ll take care of everything,” and technology companies do the same. But trust has already been lost, so it’s time to end self-regulation practices. We will see whether these words will have a real impact.

Meanwhile, Facebook had 2.91 billion users in October, but its growth is already slowing down. While Instagram has doubled in the last three years, Facebook has seen a 30% increase. In terms of finances, Facebook expects an increase of 18% to $ 135.1 billion and Instagram expects an increase of 30% to $ 60.5 billion.

In order for Meta, the parent company of both platforms, to finance its huge plans with Metaverse, it needs Instagram to make decent money in the coming years.