My Media Law and Literacy Blog: The Diffusion of Instagram

Image result for the first photo posted on instagram

Kevin Systrom post the first photograph on instagram on Jul 16, 2010, three months before the app launched to the public. Since then, Instagram has racked up 1 billion active users and the post now has 116,040 likes and 42,600 comments. How did Instagram grow from zero to a billion in less than 10 years?

When talking about how he managed to grow the social media platform so fast, Kevin Systrom said

The lesson I’ve learned is that you need to make sure to always cut what doesn’t work, cut the stuff that isn’t popular, and focus on continually improving your product and your focus…

Companies go through identity crises and they figure themselves out over time, but I think it’s all about keeping what sticks and throwing away what doesn’t.

To demonstrate the diffusion of instagram and the growth of the app, we can look at the diffusion of innovation model

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Stage 1: The Innovators

In 2010, Instagram gains 100,000 users in the first week after Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger launch the app. Influencers, such as Jack Dorsey (twitter's co-founder), shared their love of the new app by word of mouth, attracting millions of people to check it out.

Stage 2: Early Adopters

Within 2 months, the application has grown to 1 million users. In June 2011, there are 5 million active users and that number doubles by September of the same year. Facebook buys Instagram for $1 billion in April 2012.

Stage 3: (Majority early & late)

By April 2012, 50 million people have become active users on instagram. This doubles to 100 million by February 2013. In June 2016, Instagram announces they have reached 500 million active users. Refusing to slow down, Instagram doubles this number again over the next three years. The social media platform is now worth an estimated $100 billion.

Stage 4: Laggards

I am unsure if Instagram has reached this stage yet. It seems as though they are still growing and improving. However, my theory is that once my generation reach the age that our kids start making social media accounts, Instagram will be viewed as Facebook is today, obsolete and mostly used by older people. At this point, the app will have reached the laggard stage.

In the graphic below, you can see that the active user numbers are continuously growing and have not plateaued or decreased yet. When this happens, the laggard stage will begin.