The service, which sees 70 million photos and videos uploaded every day, made the announcement on Wednesday. As a result, Instagram has become a major social network player, surpassing Twitter's 271m users.
Kevin Systrom, chief executive of Instagram, said: “We’re thrilled to watch this community thrive and witness the amazing connections people make over shared passions and journeys.
“As Instagram gets bigger, we’re focused on helping you discover photos and videos from people who you care about, whether it’s a friend or your favourite musician.”
As the service grows, so do the monetisation possibilities, building upon the UK launch of sponsored posts in partnership with Starbucks, Cadbury, Estee Lauder, Waitrose, Channel 4 and Rimmel in September.
The firm is also set to introduce 'badges' to verify the accounts of celebrities, athletes and brands “in the coming days”. Furthermore, Systrom added that the firm is “committed to doing everything possible to keep Instagram free from the fake and spammy accounts that plague much of the web".
The firm will look to continue this growth as, according to a Forrester report in April, Instagram brand content delivered 58 times more engagement per follower than Facebook.