5 Surprising Facts About Instagram

Every day, there are millions of people taking photos and putting them on Instagram for their friends and other followers to see. Whether you’re at a sporting event, a public park, a restaurant or anywhere else, there’s a small need where you want to post your experience on Instagram. You might use Instagram on a daily basis, but there might be a lot that you don’t know about the social media giant. Here are some surprising facts about Instagram, some of which might blow your mind.

5. The Very First Post

There has been some debate as to what the first ever Instagram post was, and it’s not the one that some might think. Many attribute the first post to founder Kevin Systrom when he shared a photo of his dog at 9:24 PM on July 26, 2010. However, the first post actually came from Mike Krieger several hours earlier at 5:26 PM. The photo was that of the South Beach Harbor in San Francisco. As for his first photo, Systrom said “I think I would have tried a little harder” had he known how historic it would be.

4. The Most Followed

You might think that the most followed Instagram account comes from an individual, but it actually comes from Instagram itself with 535 million followers. After that, soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo is the most followed with 470 million while Kylie Jenner is the most followed woman and third overall account at 361 million. In terms of businesses after Instagram’s account, National Geographic and Nike are in the top 15 overall followers count.

3. Eggcellent Record

What do you think the most liked photo on Instagram would be? A celebrity with a massive following that announced a marriage or pregnancy? Some breaking news in the sports world? Nope, it’s actually from an account that has just one picture and it’s a brown egg with a white background. It’s called world_record_egg and was posted on January 4, 2019. Since then, the egg has amassed 56.14 million likes, which is over 23 million more than any other Instagram post.

2. Tremendous Growth

Instagram was acquired by Facebook in 2012 and is now part of the Meta Platform. At the time, there were plenty of users but not quite at the level that it is right now. In September 2011, there were 10 million users. It would take nearly five years for that number to balloon to half a billion and in the summer of 2018, Instagram finally hit their massive milestone of 1 billion users and it remains in the top 10 visited websites on a daily basis.

1. The Most Common Foods

One of the stereotypes that has followed Instagram throughout the years is that it’s only used for taking pictures of food. You’ve probably seen the older crowd complain about youngsters taking photos of their meals trying to get the right one. It’s sort of validated, though, as food pictures make up a massive part of Instagram, although 40 percent of people admit they don’t actually eat the food they photograph. As for the most frequently snapped food, it’s pizza to nobody’s surprise. Sushi follows in at second place.