Instagram has definitely taken over our mobile screens and the Facebook-owned platform was unquestionably one of the most used apps of 2018. This year, Instagram breached the 1 billion user mark, and that was back in June. Other feathers in its hat include a less intrusive and simpler user interface compared to its mothership Facebook and an ever expanding list of features that encourage users to engage and interact more on the platform. Even in the midst of the explosive Delete Facebook movement, Instagram remained shielded from the shards and infact, managed to onboard disgruntled Facebook users, resulting in a win-win for Facebook.
So 2018 has been a good year for Instagram overall and if you are wondering what a billion users have been up to on the platform, Instagram has released its Year in Review for 2018. One of the first observations that stands out in 2018’s most popular Instagram trends is the massive rise in popularity of Battle Royale game Fortnite. Epic Games’ phenomenal video game not only recorded upwards of 200 million users this year, but also became the Fastest Growing Hashtag on Instagram in 2018. Looks like there is no slowdown happening anytime soon when it comes to people playing or talking about Fortnite.
Other top trends from Instagram’s Year in Review 2018 include Most-used Filter – Heart Eyes and Most-used Giphy sticker in Stories – Heart Love Sticker by Arata. In feed, the Heart emoji was used in comments over 14 billion times and Disneyland Tokyo got tagged as the happiest place in the world.
In India specifically, #love secured the top position as the Most-used Hashtag followed by users ahead of #instagood and #fashion. The year's top advocacy hashtags were #metoo (1.5 million), #timesup (597K), #marchforourlives (562K).
Instagram's 2018 Year in Review:
Top hashtags in India
Most loved posts in India
Top geotagged locations across India in 2018: