February 9, 2015 3 min read

This story originally appeared on PR Daily



In less than five years, photo-sharing app Instagram has grown from Internet infant to social media star.

New data from the Pew Research Center shows that among social media networks, Instagram has surpassed Twitter in popularity among U.S. adults. Pew's report states that 26 percent of online adults in the U.S. used Instagram in 2014. That’s up from 17 percent in 2013 and 13 percent in 2012. By comparison, 23 percent of online adults in the U.S. used Twitter in 2014.

Instagram co-founder and CEO Kevin Systrom told TechCrunch that “what began as two friends with a dream has grown into a global community.”

In light of Instagram’s status as a global community, here are 14 statistics you need to know about the social media app:

“One of the most interesting aspects of Instagram is that it’s not really a ‘site,’ but lives almost purely on mobile,” Jeff Peters, social media specialist at The Halo Group, said in a news release.

“While it’s possible for just about any brand to use Instagram, the platform itself is most appealing to brands and industries that are more visually oriented,” Peters adds. “Instagram helps create a visual connection between a brand and a consumer or potential customer.”

PR executive Natasha Koifman says pretty much any brand can capitalize on Instagram, as long as it’s “creative and authentic.”

“The key is how you leverage it. For us, being authentic is the number one rule,” Koifman wrote on the Cision blog.