Read this article for free.

Already a subscriber? Log in here

Exclusive

Facebook

Instagram’s Latest Growth Hacks

Cory Weinberg

Apr 26, 2017 7:01 AM PDT

To take on Snapchat, Instagram has done more than just copy its features. It’s also heavily ramped up advertising on its parent site Facebook, and adopted other growth strategies long used by Facebook, such as sending more messages to users to get them to reopen the app.

Instagram last year boosted digital ad spending by 30% to 40% to about $80 million, mostly on Facebook, according to a person briefed on the figure. Snap, in comparison, spent $9.4 million last year on advertising, according to its IPO filing. The ads are likely one of the reasons why Instagram reported on Wednesday an increase in monthly active users to 700 million—doubling in the last two years.

Read this article for free

This article is part of our archive of over 3,100 stories and is only available to subscribers. To get a preview of the work we do, you can enter your email to access the full article.

Already a subscriber? Log in here

What Is The Information?

Notes bb3aa5069205d702dda37fc71dc6f1c59df2310c4379304e9f1199f052af4884

Exclusive Articles

We broke it first. Receive original reporting you won't read anywhere else from the largest newsroom in tech.

Notebook b5103017ee163370a1667c9ce59ab0ef023875a17888105d26c185cadf31bb69

Daily news analysis

Every weeknight, we'll send you our reporters’ views on the day’s top tech news—distilled into one email.

Conference calls

Get access to our reporters and other top executives with monthly deep-dive calls into topics like startups and autonomous vehicles.

Events 499acedd16cffc41445edd76bfd302b2836c2a27419890f17130a6b10e2aa3df

Special Events

For no extra fee, get access to more than a dozen events yearly, from intimate dinners to larger gatherings with marquee speakers.

What else is included in my subscription?

Become a contributor

Share your views and find other subscribers by completing your profile. You’ll be listed in our contributor directory.

Slack community

Discuss topics and current events with our subscriber-only Slack group and share news about your company with other subscribers.

Annual Subscriber only benefits:

Org Charts

Access the only collection of tech company org charts. Our expanding database includes companies like Amazon, Snap, and Uber.

Crypto Newsletter

Our experts investigate the latest in the crypto world to keep you in-the-know about the movements of digital currencies.

Stay up to date on Silicon Valley

Sign up for Jessica Lessin’s (The Information’s CEO & Founder) free Saturday newsletter and also receive a complimentary week of our daily afternoon tech commentary email.