Instagram monthly active users hits 400-million

The team at Instagram have announced that they're now working with more than 400-million monthly active users. Up from 300-million monthly active users nine months ago, Instagram appears to be growing at an increasingly quick rate. Instagram representatives also made clear that more than 80 million photos are being shared per day and that a whopping 75% of the entire community is international – that's outside the United States, in this case.

Of the last 100-million users to join Instagram, more than half live in Asia and Europe. This includes what Instagram representatives suggest are the three top countries to have joined in droves over the past 100-million, Indonesia, Japan, and Brazil. Instagram is celebrating their 400m mark by showing how locations around the world are captured by Instagram users.

Gorgeous Pluto! The dwarf planet has sent a love note back to Earth via our New Horizons spacecraft, which has traveled more than 9 years and 3+ billion miles. This is the last and most detailed image of Pluto sent to Earth before the moment of closest approach, which was at 7:49 a.m. EDT Tuesday – about 7,750 miles above the surface — roughly the same distance from New York to Mumbai, India – making it the first-ever space mission to explore a world so far from Earth. This stunning image of the dwarf planet was captured from New Horizons at about 4 p.m. EDT on July 13, about 16 hours before the moment of closest approach. The spacecraft was 476,000 miles (766,000 kilometers) from the surface. Images from closest approach are expected to be released on Wednesday, July 15. Image Credit: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI #nasa #pluto #plutoflyby #newhorizons#solarsystem #nasabeyond #science

A photo posted by NASA (@nasa) on Jul 14, 2015 at 4:00am PDT

Above you'll see the first surface photo of Pluto ever published by NASA. Next you'll see an abandoned Nambian desert "ghost town" – part of a series.

Blue Doors | Namibia I've been dying to take this shot for years and I've finally gotten around to it! Kolmanskop was a German diamond mining town founded in southern Namibia in 1908. The diamond supply eventually ran out and the town was abandoned in 1954. Since then, the harsh Namib desert has started reclaiming it. It had the first tram in Africa and the first X-ray station in the Southern Hemisphere. Cool stuff! Big thanks to @instagram for featuring this shot on their blog! #africa #namibia #kolmanskop #kolmannskuppe #abandoned #mining #town #diamonds #diamond #sand #dunes #door #doors #nature #iphone #iphone5 #iphoneonly #igmasters #town #ghost #ghosttown #iphone_only #namib #desert #architecture #travel #amazing #beautifuldestinations #earthfocus #travelstoke

A photo posted by Conor MacNeill (@thefella) on May 29, 2014 at 7:25am PDT

One of the newest Instagram accounts on the block is "stormtroopersinlove". Below you'll find a majestic photo of two of Star Wars' New Order Stormtroopers holding hands on the beach.

Holding hands at the beach. #holdinghands #starwars #stormtroopersinlove

A photo posted by Stormtroopers in Love (@stormtroopersinlove) on Sep 12, 2015 at 12:56pm PDT

Instagram recently upgraded their Instagram Direct service for messages to take on the likes of Facebook Messenger and Google's Hangouts. Just under a month ago, Instagram started allowing more than just square format photos. You can now go vertical or horizontal, if you do so wish.

And don't forget the time Instagram started storing larger photos. What'll they think of next? Have a peek at our Instagram tag portal to find out!