Instagram By The Numbers [Infographic]

Just how do you define an online success? By the numbers or by the sheer dedication that its users are enslaving themselves to the service? Or is it even possible to derive any correct data to compare success at all? I guess you could ask this question in as many ways as there are websites on the Internet, and that would take a long time. The cold hard fact is that success is really just about reaching the goals you have set up for your website. Of course there are metrics to be compared and a “winner” can be finalized in the race to dominate the world. Then there are the sites that win at completely immersing their users in a flood of tools, features and engagement which make even the most hardcore Internet addict become nothing but a player on a chess board.

Instagram has been mentioned a lot in the press lately. I guess that’s thanks to Facebook and the fact that they acquired the service for $300 million. I have seen several submissions mentioning $1 billion, and I am ultimately unsure whether this is correct or not. The latest news says that Facebook cashed $300 million for the company, and they are now working on its incorporation into Facebook.

It could be quite interesting to know the metrics behind those insane numbers to really see how much each user is worth if you would be bold enough to divide it up without incorporating any other metrics. It’s easy math really, with a user base of around 40 million and a price tag of $300 million, each user is priced at $7. To me, that feels like a cheap price for all the creativity that is constantly uploaded to the service.

And if we break it down even further, with a lifespan of 18 months and 1 billion photos uploaded, its users are uploading an average of 1,850,000 photos a day. As you can see, the price tag of $7 per user seems to be a little doggone low if you ask me. So maybe the price tag actually was $1 billion after all, and Facebook cashed an initial $300 million to get the deal started. As you see, I am quite uneducated on the topic and any correction would be greatly appreciated. However, I doubt we’ll ever know the full details of the deal, and speculation makes it hard to really evaluate the service.

The metrics that Instagram presents are really impressive, and they’re worth having a look at. KISSmetrics compiled the data and created an infographic that should appeal to anyone in love with statistics (like I am). The infographic itself is called Instagram By The Numbers, and it is jam packed with user statistics and all kinds of metrics that serve great value when you decide whether a service is something you would like to concentrate on for social networking purposes, as well as the promotion of your products or services.