Instagram Now has 1 Billion Monthly Users, Launches IGTV for Content Creators

It seemed inevitable that Instagram would hit the 1 billion monthly users mark. But what probably surprised people was how quickly the company achieved this. After all, it was just in September of last year that the photo-sharing app reached 800 million users.

TechCrunch

@TechCrunch

Instagram hits 1 billion monthly users, up from 800M in September https://tcrn.ch/2M8iJ9f  by @joshconstine

Instagram now joins WhatsApp and Messenger in the 1 billion club. The two Facebook-owned apps have 1.5 billion and 1.3 billion monthly users respectively. And despite recent controversies, Facebook is still holding strong with 2.2 billion users.

IGTV Goes Up Against YouTube

Instagram announced its latest achievement at its San Francisco event launching IGTV, the company’s latest app for long-form video. While IGTV is designed as a standalone app, it will also be found as a tab in Instagram

Instagram videos are usually limited to 60 seconds but with IGTV, videos can run as long as 10 minutes. Meanwhile, creators with a huge following can post videos that are up to an hour long. At the moment, IGTV videos will have to be pre-recorded, although live videos might be something Instagram will offer in the future.

Good Morning America

@GMA

Something to “like!” @Instagram launches IGTV, a new video feature that will allow you to watch up to 60 minutes of vertical video on your phone! @bworley has the story:

IGTV videos will show up as thumbnails at the lower half of the creator’s page. Tapping on a thumbnail will cause the video to go full screen. Each video will show the same icons that users also see on Instagram – a heart, share tool, and the comment bubble.

It would appear that IGTV is going up against YouTube in terms of content creation and consumption. However, IGTV still has a long way to go before it can match YouTube’s number of monthly logged-in users and content creators.

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