Instagram claims 300 million active users; unveils verified badges

Soon after being featured in Apple's list of the 'Best of 2014' apps, Instagram on Wednesday announced that it now has over 300 million monthly active users. The photo-sharing app also introduced new verified badges for celebrity and popular brand accounts.

"We're proud to announce that there are now more than 300 million Instagrammers,"stated Kevin Systrom, CEO of Instagram on the company blog post. Instagram had in March announced it had crossed 200 million active users. Notably, Twitter currently has 248 million monthly active users.

Systrom also introduced the verified badges "for celebrities, athletes and brands, making it easier for you to connect with the authentic accounts you're looking for. The verified badges will start rolling out in the coming days,” added Systrom.

He said that the firm has been deactivating several spam accounts on Instagram and "will be deleting these accounts forever, so they will no longer be included in follower counts." The users who have been operating spam accounts would receive a notification in the app, leading them to a page with additional information.

Instagram last month rolled out an update to its Android and iOS apps, focussing on the revamped 'Explore' page and new editing options for the uploaded image's captions and locations. The 'Explore' page, after the update, showed two tabs namely Photos and People. "The new People tab highlights interesting accounts for you to discover," added the firm.

Additionally, the updated Instagram app for Android included some bug fixes and performance improvements in the What's New section. Meanwhile, the iOS version of the app included speedier searches with auto-complete, noting, "Search faster: Get quicker results with typeahead search."