The announcement was made by Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, who described it as a major moment for the platform and its global community, just as Instagram approaches its 15th birthday.

Since its launch in 2010, Instagram has grown from a simple photo-sharing app into one of the world’s most influential platforms for creativity, culture, and connection.

Whether it’s sharing memes with friends in DMs, discovering new trends through Reels, keeping up with creators, or showcasing personal creativity, Instagram has continued to evolve while staying true to its mission of bringing people closer together.

“Instagram has always been about creativity,” Mosseri noted. “This milestone reflects the billions of people who come to Instagram every month to connect, express themselves, and discover what inspires them.”

What’s Next for Instagram?

As it celebrates this achievement, Instagram is also looking ahead, rolling out new features designed to give users more control and a better experience.

Here are some updates to expect in the coming months:

• More Control Over Reels: Users will soon be able to tell Instagram what topics they want to see more or less of, creating a more personalized feed.
• Simplified Navigation: A cleaner layout will allow easy swiping between the Home feed, Reels, and Messages, making discovery and communication smoother.
• Reels-First Experience: Instagram is testing a Reels-first mobile design in India and South Korea, two of its most vibrant communities. The update lets people dive straight into entertaining content while still offering a dedicated “Following” tab to catch up on posts from friends and favorite creators. Interestingly, this test looks very similar to Instagram’s new iPad experience, and insights from these countries will shape future global rollouts.

What this means for Instagram

Crossing 3 billion monthly users not only cements Instagram’s place as one of the largest social platforms on the planet, but also underscores how deeply it has embedded itself into everyday life, spanning cultures, age groups, and interests.

As the platform heads into its 15th year, its focus remains clear: empowering creativity and connection on a global scale.

This update, confirmed by Instagram head Adam Mosseri, aims to make post management more seamless while preserving the platform’s focus on real-time conversations.

The scheduling option, set to undergo testing, will enable users to plan their posts in advance through a simple three-dot menu in the composer.

All scheduled posts will be stored in a drafts folder, where users can edit, delete, or reschedule them as needed. However, replies cannot be scheduled to ensure the spontaneity of discussions remains intact.

According to Mosseri, the feature has been in development for months. Its launch aligns with other recent enhancements across Meta platforms, such as the ability to schedule direct messages on Instagram.

This update comes as Threads continues to grow at a commendable rate, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealing that the platform has surpassed 100 million daily active users and now has over 300 million monthly active users. 

The addition of post scheduling is expected to be particularly useful for content creators and social media managers, enabling them to have better control over their content strategy.

With this highly anticipated feature, Threads aims to meet user demands while enhancing its competitive edge in the social media market.

This comes shortly after Meta’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, spoke on the platform’s rapid growth during the company’s second-quarter earnings call for 2024. 

Adam Mosseri, who heads Instagram, confirmed the news in a post on Threads, noting the platform’s prospects to enhance community and inspire collective ideas.

Launched in July 2023, Threads has experienced outstanding growth, reaching 150 million users by April 2024 and 175 million by its one-year anniversary in July. 

The latest surge has brought the user base beyond 200 million, showing an increase in acceleration over recent weeks. This expansion reveals the platform’s ability to attract users despite its ties to Instagram, pointing to genuine engagement beyond mere profile creation.

Threads’ rise can be partially attributed to the changing dynamics of online discourse, with users seeking alternatives to X amidst its controversial changes under Elon Musk’s leadership. 

The recent political issue, including the U.S. election activities and other global events, may have further driven users toward Threads, providing a space for real-time discussions.

Zuckerberg remains positive about the platform’s future, aiming for the platform to reach over a billion users eventually. While Threads still lags behind X’s larger user base, its current growth direction shows a favourable sign for its potential to capture a great share of the social media industry. 

Threads, the text-based Instagram spin-off, is reportedly working on a new feature that many users have been eagerly anticipating—the ability to delete your profile within the app itself.

Alessandro Paluzzi, a well-known leaker and reverse engineer, recently revealed this development in a post.

According to Paluzzi’s post, the upcoming Threads delete profile feature aims to provide users with a convenient way to permanently remove their profiles, including posts and likes. After initiating profile deletion, the app will retain user data for 30 days before erasing it entirely.

https://twitter.com/alex193a/status/1704786708905029793

One noteworthy detail is that if you decide to delete your Threads profile, you won’t be able to recreate it using the same Instagram account for a period of up to 120 days. It’s important to note that deleting your Threads profile will not affect your associated Instagram account.

Presently, the only way to delete your Threads profile is by also deleting your linked Instagram account. However, it remains uncertain when, or if, the Threads delete profile option will be made available in the app. In the meantime, if you wish to temporarily step away from Threads, you can independently deactivate your profile.

Threads, which made its debut earlier this year, initially gained significant popularity, even outpacing Pokémon GO as the fastest-growing app. However, its user engagement has since waned.

Previous reports highlighted the absence of certain essential features on Threads compared to rival social media platforms, including the inability to delete your profile directly from the app.

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, acknowledged these shortcomings and assured users that various improvements were in the pipeline.

While direct messaging remains absent from Threads for now, the platform has made efforts to address some of these deficiencies by introducing features like the following tab, language translation, custom alt-text, and more.

Additionally, Threads has expanded its reach with the introduction of a web version and keyword search functionality in select countries.

https://twitter.com/alex193a/status/1704790276336750872