Best Time to Post on X: Maximizing Engagement in 2025
By BrandwatchNov 7
Believe it or not, people took photos before Instagram. People even shared photos before Instagram. With its snazzy filters and easy sharing options, soon we were all addicted to posting our holiday hot dog legs and hipster food snaps.
With many millions now using the app every day, there is no shortage of Instagram stats and facts that show how popular it is. We’ve trawled the net to find the most up to date, amazing stats around.
Instagram history statistics
Instagram launched on October 6, 2010.
The first ever photo was posted by Kevin Systrom (@kevin) on Jul 16, 2010 (above).
The network was bought by Facebook on 9 April 2012, for $1 billion.
At the time, Instagram had only 30 million users.
Instagram introduced advertising for select brands in October 2013, but didn’t open up advertising for all until September 2015.
In June 2016 Instagram switched to a non-chronological feed. Many people weren’t happy but Instagram said it would mean people would miss less posts from the people they followed.
Instagram Stories were released on the platform in August 2016. Stories allowed users to upload photos and videos (along with the ability to add stickers and other info) to their profiles that would expire after 24 hours (similar in function to Snapchat).
There are now over 2m monthly advertisers on Instagram.
IGTV, or Instagram TV, appeared in June 2018. This standalone app allowed users to upload longer videos to encourage more in-depth video content.
Instagram financial statistics
In 2015, Instagram was forecasted to bring in $10.87bn in mobile ad revenue.
In 2017, it was estimated Instagram would reach nearly $4bn in revenue.
By 2019, it’s been estimated that Instagram ad revenue was $9.45bn in 2019, with it predicted to hist nearly $14bn in 2020.
Instagram user statistics
Instagram now has 1.08bn active users.
The top three countries who use Instagram are the United States (116m), India (73m), and Brazil (72m). You can find the top ten list here.
Over 60% of users log in daily, making it the second most engaged network after Facebook.
The biggest demographic group are males between 18 – 24 years old, while 75% of all users are aged between 18 and 24.
37% of US internet users are now on Instagram.
90 percent of Instagram users are younger than 35.
The most followed brand (besides Instagram itself) is National Geographic, with 130m and counting followers. The most followed person is currently Cristiano Ronaldo, followed by Ariana Grande, and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
Currently the most popular Instagram post is of an egg. While the person with the most posts in the top 20 is Kylie Jenner with six.
Instagram usage statistics
Over 500m Stories are posted every day.
Instagram clocks up 3.5 billion likes every day.
As of June 2016, 95 million posts are made every day, although this is likely to be far higher today.
Instagram usage doubled between June 2016 and 2018.
One study found that 8% of accounts are fake
The same study showed 29.9% of accounts are ‘inactive’, posting one or fewer photos or videos in a month
When Instagram introduced videos, more than 5 million were shared in 24 hours
Pizza is the most popular Instagrammed food, with sushi and chicken taking 2nd and 3rd respectively. Although in the UK, it’s curry.
Instagram marketing statistics
There are over 25m brand accounts on Instagram, with 80% of users following one.
If we only look at the top 100 brands in the world, 90% have an Instagram account.
96% of US fashion brands are on Instagram.
60% of Instagram users discover new products on the platform.
Engagement with brands on Instagram is 10 times higher than Facebook, 54 times higher than Pinterest, and 84 times higher than Twitter.
Over a third of Instagram users have used their mobile to purchase a product online– making them 70% more likely to do so than non-users.
32% of US teens list Instagram as their most important social network, more than any other social network.
50% of Instagrammers follow brands, making them the social networkers who are most likely to do so.
Posts that include another handle gain 56% more engagement.
Posts with at least one hashtag gain 12.6% more engagement.
And posts with a location receive 79% more engagement.
Photos see more engagement than videos on Instagram.
The average engagement per post has grown by 416% compared to two years ago.
70% of the most used hashtags are branded.
Photography has changed massively over the years. A couple of bonus stats attest to that: more pictures are now taken every two minutes than were taken during the entire 1800s.
It is also estimated that ten percent of all photos ever taken were snapped in the last twelve months. It seems our appetite for photography shows no signs of slowing down. These Instagram stats demonstrate how important this trend is for marketers hoping to reach their audience.
If you’re looking for in-depth insights about your audience, brand or competitors, get in touch with us for a free demo and see how Brandwatch Analytics can boost your social media strategy.