Why We’re Excited Instagram Hit 300 Million Users

Last week, Instagram announced it reached more than 300 million active users, and the keyboard-happy folks at Blinkfire Analytics couldn’t be more excited. Over the past few months, we’ve been tracking the social channels of most professional sports leagues around the globe, and it’s no surprise to us that Instagram has progressed this fast.

The photo- and video-sharing platform leads the relative growth race within most team accounts. Just take a peek at any of the examples below to see how well the simple filter-savvy application performs against the juggernauts of Twitter and Facebook. Although Twitter has added only around 38 million users since March, Instagram piled on 100 million new users within the same amount of time. That’s an increase of 50% within a three-quarter period. Not to mention the fact that in little over a year — since September 2013 — they’ve doubled their total active users.

Miami Heat: Relative Growth of Social Channels

For a more detailed approach to this social competition, you can reference the graph above and clearly see the Miami Heat’s Instagram far exceeding its other channels. The same goes for Chelsea and the Vancouver Canucks. No matter where in the world or what sport you tune into, similar results appear. And we brought up teams from around the world for a reason. Instagram is dominating the numbers game on a global scale, drawing more than 70 percent of its users from outside the U.S. With new features like the people discovery tab, which launched in November, users can now subscribe to recommended accounts based on what their history. Fewer borders, more content.

Chelsea: Relative Growth of Social Channels

You might be thinking, “How has Instagram had so much success?” Well, we think the answer is simple: visuals. Yes, for the same reason we believe our data is vital to sports social media, we believe Instagram is roaring ahead because of its visual nature. It’s much easier to view, like and share a photo or video than to read text and clunky figures to make a point. One of our unique offerings at Blinkfire Analytics is providing hard numbers to aid with social media growth and engagement, but we appeal to everyone with our visual charts and graphs. Visuals are especially powerful in sports, when capturing a critical moment of triumph or defeat creates iconic images.

Vancouver Canucks: Relative Growth of Social Channels

Now surpassing Twitter as the most popular unfiltered feed, Instagram will have to tackle tough obstacles. Users may drown beneath posts from people who they don’t really care about and literally lose sight of friends’ content. They’ve already begun to make improvements, however, with the simultaneous announcement that they will be rolling out verified badges for celebrities, brands, and athletes. That’s a crucial step both Twitter and Facebook already underwent to prevent excessive buildup from fake, parody, or tribute accounts.

The data we’ve collected over the last several months delineates Instagram’s rise to its current level. We might even be able to say that we knew this was coming. Because when you bend over sheets of numbers as much as we do, data starts to show you the future. Based on its current rate (and our business model) we know the visual-sharing platform will expand further. If you join us at Blinkfire Analytics today, you will be able to harness insights to improve your team’s social media strategy and profitability on the visual web (maybe even predict the future, too).