THE POWER OF THE PLATFORM: VISUAL STORYTELLING ON SOCIAL NETWORKS 93 Instagram Facts and Figures • 67% of top brands are now using • Users post 40 million photos per day with 93 Instagram. upward of 8,500 likes and 1,000 comments 94 99 • Instagram has more than 150 million users per second. 95 • More brands are not only opening an with 100 million monthly active. • Instagram saw a remarkable growth in account in Instagram but they are also the first 7 months of 2012—going from 15 posting upward of 20 or more times per million users in early 2012 to 80 million in 100 month. July—an increase of over 400% in just 7 • More than 5 million photos are uploaded 96 101 months. to Instagram every day. • The Instagram network’s user base is nearly • In 2012, Instagram users liked 78 million 97 102 70% female. photos. • Instagram leaders are luxury brands with Burberry, Tiffany, and Gucci among the 98 brands with highest number of followers. Because of Instagram’s instant, on-the-go appeal, companies are using it to humanize their brands, with plenty of behind-the-scenes and more informal content, as well as encouraging user-generated content, with great success. The best-suited brands for Instagram are obviously the ones that lend themselves easily to images: luxury brands, retail, lifestyle, and fashion and design companies are natural fits for the platform. Your organization doesn’t have to fall neatly into one of these categories to build a follow- ing on Instagram though. Intel is using it to show the creative side of technology with some beautiful, artistic images that have captured their followers’ imaginations (http://instagram.com/intel). American Express has similarly built on the opportunities that its product provides by posting lifestyle photos and the experiences that the