Instagram's rise has been the stuff of social fairytales: two months after launching in October 2010 it had 1 million users, then Facebook buys the platform for US $1 billion in April 2012.

Aside from the brief controversy around new privacy controls (which were later withdrawn), Instagram is ascendant, as the recent success of Instagram video has displayed. 

These new statistics courtesy of Nitrogram give a new picture into the current state of the photo-sharing platform.

Global snappers

At last count Instagram had 130 million monthly active users, with half of these residing outside of the US.

And they're busy – generating 1 billion Likes and sharing 45 million photos every day. 

Android

Instagram initially launched on iOS until expanding to Android last year. Now over half of all Instagrammers are Android users, and the number is growing.

Brands

The top three brands on Instagram are Nike, Starbucks and The NBA. In fact their reach is so massive that on average 1.5 million posts mention each of these brands on Instagram.

The top 50 brands have around 722,000 followers, and 62 per cent of brands have posted videos via Instagram. 

The most branded account is Ellen DeGeneres’ @TheEllenShow, which boasts 2.5 million followers and adds another 200,000 every month!

Fast cars 

The Car and Fast Food industries are the most represented on the platform, with close to a 100 per cent adoption rate. 

The Financial, Insurance and Oil and Gas industries are the least represented, with a 40 per cent adoption rate. 

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