Instagram is bigger than Twitter and getting bigger

Photo sharing site introduces verified badges and pledges to beef up anti-spam tools

(Getty)

Instagram now has more users than Twitter — prompting the photo-sharing site to introduce new tools amid worries that Twitter is getting less cool.

Twitter said six weeks ago that it had 284 million active users, and Instagram announced yesterday evening that it had hit 300 million users, 70% of them outside of the US.

Instagram began four years ago and reached 200 million users only nine months ago. There’s now 70 million photos and videos shares every day.

It said that as more people join it will work harder to delete spammy accounts from the site and introducing verified badges for celebrities, athletes and brands, as already happens on Twitter.

Twitter’s growth has been slowing in recent months, with many wondering how Twitter will be able to grow its stagnating user base. Many of Twitter’s recent

“Perhaps it’s as simple as photos being more appealing to a broader audience than tweets,” wrote tech commentator John Gruber on his blog.

“Put another way: Instagram is clearly run by people who get what it is that makes Instagram a cool thing. Twitter seems run by people who just don’t get Twitter.”