Instagram Stories Hits 500 Million Daily Users as Facebook Plans Feature Expansion
Half of Instagram's billion users now view Stories daily, while Facebook prepares to launch major product updates across its app family. The company also announces plans to unify messaging infrastructure and shift focus to family-wide metrics.
Instagram Stories reaches a major milestone as 500 million users interact with the feature daily, representing half of the app's total user base. This number shows significant growth from the 400 million daily users reported in June 2018. The popularity of the format attracts 2 million advertisers who now purchase Stories ads across Facebook's various properties.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg outlines a broad product roadmap for the company following a year focused on security. Upcoming initiatives include adding encryption and ephemerality to more features, expanding WhatsApp payments, and introducing private sharing options for Stories. Additional plans involve elevating Groups, pushing Facebook Watch into the mainstream, shipping the Oculus Quest headset, and enhancing Instagram commerce.
Zuckerberg addresses the plan to unify the messaging infrastructure across Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, explaining that the goal improves user experience rather than providing a business benefit. The company reports 2.7 billion monthly users across its app family and indicates that it will eventually phase out Facebook-only metrics in favor of these combined family numbers.