The scoop on Instagram’s big growth

Facebook is easily the most-used social network in the U.S., and the site also owns the fastest-growing social site: Instagram.

Instagram will hit 89.4 million monthly users this year, according to a forecast from eMarketer, up 15.1 percent from 77.6 million users last year. As a comparison, total social networking will grow by just 3.1 percent in the U.S. this year.

Looking forward, eMarketer expects Instagram to add 26.9 million monthly users over the next four years, nearly double the amount of users Twitter is expected to add during that same timeframe.

Millennials are leading the way when it comes to growth for the site. There will be 48.2 million Millennial Instagram users in the U.S. this year, and by 2019 about two-thirds of Millennial smartphone owners will use the photo-sharing site.

What this means for parent Facebook is simple: More money.

According to eMarketer, this year 9.5 percent of Facebook’s worldwide mobile ad revenues will come from Instagram, including 20.1 percent in the U.S.

By next year that number will jump to 14.0 percent globally and 28.0 percent in the U.S.

To see more from eMarketer, click here.

Tags: emarketer, instagram, instagram users, millennials, social media, twitter