On the 6th of October 2010, the Burbn Beta app appeared on the App Store as a prototype created by Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger. That same day, the application received around 25,000 registrations from eager users testing its features. Six days later, on the 12th of October 2010, the team officially released the final stable version under the new name Instagram. The renaming triggered an immediate surge in popularity that reached one million registered users within two months. By June 2018, the platform had grown to one billion active users worldwide. Josh Riedel joined the company in October 2010 as Community Manager while Shayne Sweeney arrived in November as an engineer. Jessica Zollman took her role as Community Evangelist in August 2011. The first web-based prototype of Burbn was released online on the 21st of October 2009, though it remained basic and non-functional at launch. Mike Krieger posted the first Burbn photo of South Beach Harbor at Pier 38 at 5:26 p.m. on the 16th of July 2010. In March 2010, Systrom closed a $500,000 seed funding round with Baseline Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz. February 2011 saw Instagram raise $7 million in Series A funding from investors including Benchmark Capital and Jack Dorsey. April 2012 brought another $50 million investment round led by Joshua Kushner's Thrive Capital.
Facebook acquired Instagram for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock on the 9th of April 2012. The deal officially closed on the 6th of September 2012, with a purchase price of $300 million in cash plus 23 million shares of Facebook stock. Britain's Office of Fair Trading approved the transaction on the 14th of August 2012 while the Federal Trade Commission closed its investigation on the 22nd of August 2012. Mark Zuckerberg stated that Facebook was committed to building and growing Instagram independently after the acquisition. Wired reported that the deal netted Kevin Systrom $400 million personally. The Android version of Instagram launched on the 3rd of April 2012 and was downloaded more than one million times within less than one day. A feature-limited desktop interface arrived in November 2012 followed by a Fire OS app in June 2014. An app for Windows 10 appeared in October 2016 and an iPadOS version launched in September 2025. At the time of the Android announcement, 80% of Instagram's 600 million users were located outside the United States. Joshua Kushner doubled his money after the sale when Thrive Capital invested during Series B fundraising. The deal price compared favorably to the $35 million Yahoo! paid for Flickr in 2005.
Instagram Stories launched in August 2016 as a feature allowing photos and videos to expire after 24 hours. By January 2017, daily active story users reached 400 million while monthly active users hit 1 billion. IGTV launched on the 20th of June 2018 as a standalone video application before being shut down in March 2022 due to low usage. Adam Mosseri became head of Instagram on the 1st of October 2018 following the departure of Krieger and Systrom. The platform began piloting removal of publicly displayed like counts starting in May 2019 across Canada and six other markets. A worldwide expansion of this pilot occurred in November 2019. Instagram Direct introduced private messaging capabilities in December 2013 with major updates arriving in September 2015 and April 2017. Reels officially launched globally in August 2020 to compete with TikTok's short-form video service. As of November 2024, Reels averaged 150 billion views per day. Threads launched on the 5th of July 2023 as a text-based social network connected to Instagram. The original square photo format restriction ended in August 2015 when support expanded to 1080 pixels. Carousel posts allowing up to ten images or videos arrived in February 2017. Story Highlights debuted on the 5th of December 2017 to preserve content beyond the 24-hour window.
Instagram shifted from strictly chronological ordering to algorithmic curation beginning in April 2016. This change caused significant negative feedback from users who asked followers to turn on post notifications to see updates. Adam Mosseri stated during a Senate hearing on child safety issues in December 2021 that the company was developing a version showing user posts in chronological order. Shadowbanning practices began in 2017 to reduce prominence of accounts generating non-genuine engagement. A horizontal scroll test replacing traditional vertical scrolling occurred in December 2018 before being labeled a bug. Suggested posts were rolled out in 2020 adding content from accounts users might like but do not follow. Fast Company reported this feature would be impossible to turn off while The Verge criticized it for keeping users glued to their feeds. Julian Gutman rebutted claims that suggested posts harm mental health stating they were not intended to keep users glued to screens. Instagram replaced the activity feed tab with a new Shop tab in November 2020 moving the feed to the top. The Reels tab now occupies the second position in navigation bars following interface redesign tests starting in September 2025. Hashtag search functionality for recent posts became permanently removed in April 2023 after temporary testing periods.
The Wall Street Journal published internal Meta research in 2021 revealing findings about teen body image and self-esteem. One study interviewed fifteen monthly Californian Instagram users aged thirteen to twenty-one with low body image and self esteem. Another recruited ten monthly users for a five-day diary study recording online habits while a third selected seven users for thirty-minute interviews. Instagram has negative effects on the body image of one in three teenagers according to these presentations seen by company executives including CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Twenty percent of teens feel worse about themselves while forty percent feel better about themselves after using the platform. Seventy percent of teen girls and forty percent of teen boys experience negative social comparison regarding appearance. Thirteen percent of British and six percent of American teenager users with suicidal thoughts could trace them to Instagram use. Studies showed users who take more selfies before posting report higher levels of body surveillance and lower overall self-esteem. Facial satisfaction can decrease when spending greater time editing selfies according to Tiggermann et al. Girls with accounts differ from those without in skipping meals and maintaining stricter exercise schedules compared to boys. Depression, anxiety and stress symptoms correlate with increased time spent browsing Instagram according to Khodarahimi & Fathi 2017.
Instagram deleted Canadian photographer Petra Collins' account in October 2013 after she posted a photo showing pubic hair above bikini bottoms. Audra Schroeder wrote that Instagram's terms allow pornographic or sexually suggestive photos yet Collins' account was removed anyway. Australian fashion agency Sticks and Stones Agency lost their account in January 2015 for similar reasons involving visible pubic hair. Artist Rupi Kaur had menstrual blood photos removed in March 2015 prompting over eleven thousand shares on her Facebook page. The #FreetheNipple campaign emerged challenging Instagram's removal of women's nipples despite Apple guidelines requiring age ratings. Kevin Systrom explained in October 2015 that apps must designate appropriate age rankings for users through the App Store. BBC discovered drug sellers using specific hashtags to complete transactions via WhatsApp in 2013 leading to blocked hashtags. A sixteen-year-old queer artist allegedly died by suicide in 2023 after receiving thousands of hate comments on Instagram. India faced criticism for allowing homophobic content in local languages while removing English versions. Trump was banned indefinitely from Instagram on the 7th of January 2021 following the U.S. Capitol attack. Ireland's Data Protection Commission fined Meta $402 million in September 2022 under privacy laws regarding minors. Turkey blocked Instagram in August 2024 after deleting posts offering condolences for Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh.
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Common questions
When was Instagram officially released to the public?
Instagram officially released on the 12th of October 2010 after launching as Burbn Beta six days earlier. The team renamed the application from Burbn to Instagram and immediately saw a surge in popularity reaching one million registered users within two months.
Who founded Instagram and when did they start working on it?
Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger created the prototype known as Burbn which appeared on the App Store on the 6th of October 2010. They had previously released a basic web-based version of Burbn online on the 21st of October 2009 before developing the mobile app.
How much money did Facebook pay to acquire Instagram?
Facebook acquired Instagram for approximately US$1 billion in cash and stock with the deal closing on the 6th of September 2012. The final purchase price consisted of $300 million in cash plus 23 million shares of Facebook stock approved by Britain's Office of Fair Trading on the 14th of August 2012.
What are the negative effects of Instagram on teenagers according to internal research?
Internal Meta research published by The Wall Street Journal in 2021 found that Instagram has negative effects on the body image of one in three teenagers. Seventy percent of teen girls and forty percent of teen boys experience negative social comparison regarding appearance while thirteen percent of British and six percent of American teenager users with suicidal thoughts could trace them to Instagram use.
When was the Android version of Instagram launched and how popular was it initially?
The Android version of Instagram launched on the 3rd of April 2012 and was downloaded more than one million times within less than one day. At the time of this announcement 80% of Instagram's 600 million users were located outside the United States.