Instagram hits 400 million user mark

Instagram now has more than 400 million users, the company announced, making it far larger than rival Twitter Inc with 100 million more users. The photo-sharing app has grown rapidly over the past three years, faster than many of its social app competitors, including Twitter and Snapchat. The Facebook unit has rolled out a number of products and features this year aimed at getting users to spend more time in the app.

More than 75 per cent of Instagram's users are outside the United States, the company wrote in a blog post. More than half of the 100 million newest users living in Europe and Asia with Brazil, Japan and Indonesia adding the most users. Facebook bought Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion and has been slow to monetize the app.

It recently expanded its platform to all advertisers, rather than a select few, and is expected to make up to $2.8 billion in advertising revenue in 2017, according to eMarketer, a research firm. Facebook now owns many of the most popular apps, including WhatsApp with 900 million users and its Messenger platform, now the second-most popular app ever -- behind only Facebook -- with 700 million users.

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