Instagram now has more than 300 million users worldwide, making it bigger than Twitter.
The popular photo-sharing app announced its latest user figures in a blog post from chief executive Kevin Systrom on Wednesday, saying users share more than 70 million photos and videos every day.
Instagram also announced the addition of verified badges for celebrities, athletes and brands, making it easier for users to identify and connect with authentic accounts; verified badges, such as those used by Twitter, are typically little icons that appear next to a person’s user name, denoting that his or her identity has been verified by the company. Instagram’s badges will start rolling out “over the coming days,” Systrom said.
As part of its efforts to improve authenticity, Instagram has been de-activating spam accounts. That means those accounts will no longer be included in follower counts, so some users will see a change in how many people follow them on Instagram.
Facebook-owned Instagram — and Facebook itself — have been seeing strong user figures lately.
Facebook, with 1.3 billion users worldwide, leads social media by attracting 66 percent of its monthly visitors in the U.S. to its service daily, according to a survey released this week by stock research firm UBS.
